All in the Timing
by freakinwinky
Summary: There were near misses many of them...But only one that followed them home. COMPLETE!
1. A flair for the Dramatic

Disclaimer: I don't own any one except Emily Gardner. Every thing else belongs to J.K Rowling. Oh, and the titler All in the Timing, is actually the title of a play, so that's not really mine but it's not J.K's either.  
  
A/N: I know this is a bit strange, especially the beginning. So if you get confused don't worry you haven't missed anything. That's just how it starts.  
  
All in the Timing  
  
Chapter one: A Flair for the Dramatic  
  
"She's still here?"  
  
"Where else would she be Wormtail? She wouldn't've gone any where. Not on that leg anyway."  
  
Emily Gardner lay with her eyes closed listening to strange and rather panicky voices above her.  
  
Where was she? On the ground by the feel of things. Why? That was a much better question.  
  
Not that she minded being on the ground one bit.  
  
After all being on the ground meant that she would be filthy from the dirt. Dirt meant that she looked as though she'd been through hell. In fact she, could vaguely feel a sharp pain in her leg and her head was throbbing like mad.  
  
This meant that she not only looked like she'd been through hell, but felt like it as well.  
  
This meant that something exciting and possibly dangerous had happened to her. She was in the company of male strangers and in a possibly life threatening situation. At last!  
  
(Not to mention that appearing dirty when she returned home would drive her oh- so- proper- uncle mad. Ha! Served him right.)  
  
Her excitement increased when she felt some one lean down and put a hand to her forehead, and even more so when she heard him speak.  
  
"She's out cold." He said in a horse, but very pleasant voice.  
  
Even though she wasn't "Out cold", Emily had no intention of opening her eyes and proving him wrong.  
  
If there was anything her mother had taught her it was that a true actress always waits for the oprotune moment to make a grand entrance.  
  
"It's all in the timing." That's what she would say  
  
It would simply be dramatically anti-climactic to open her eyes so soon after she had been found.  
  
"What do we do now?" Asked a high pitched frantic voice, which was not at all as pleasant as the one that had spoken earlier. Still, it was male and that was what mattered  
  
"Well, we can't just leave her here." The pleasant voice answered.  
  
"What do you mean Moony? Of course we can."  
  
What?! Emily thought still struggling to keep her eyes closed  
  
This voice was new. It was darker and more silky than the other two. However, Emily wasn't certain that she liked its owner at all.  
  
A gentleman never leaves a lady stranded.  
  
"Right." Another voice said. This one was not as hoarse but quite as pleasant as the first that she had heard.  
  
"It's not our fault she was prancing around here on her own last night is it?"  
  
She could not believe what she was hearing. Of all the uncouth, barbaric things to say! A lady is never at fault for an injury she sustains. At least not completely.  
  
"No, but it is our fault that she has a concussion and a broken leg." The hoarse voice said.  
  
Thank you! At least someone in the group seemed to have some manners.  
  
"So, last night she's a meal ticket and now she's a damsel in distress?" asked the dark silky voice  
  
"Moony are you a wolf or a gentleman? Make up your mind!"  
  
"Not so loud." Moony implored.  
  
Emily didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, but she knew that she liked the one they called moony far better than any of the others. At least he had a sense of propriety.  
  
"What'll we do with her if we do take her?" Asked the high pitched frantic voice.  
  
Well, it was obvious what was supposed to happen.  
  
One of them (Preferably moony) would take her in his arms and carry her back to where he lived, nurse her to health, fall in love with her, loose her to a mysterious villan , rescue her again, marry her and live happily ever after.  
  
But apparently these boys weren't aware of this obvious arrangement as one of them had the nerve to say:  
  
"If we tell Dumbledore or any of the teachers about her, we'll have to tell them the whole story."  
  
"We'll be expelled for sure!"  
  
She had no idea who Dumbledore was or where they would be expelled from, but she knew that if these men had any sense of daring what so ever, they would risk what ever they had to for the sake of an injured soul. Especially an injured female soul.  
  
"Now that I think about it your right Prongs." Moony said. She couldn't believe it! They were all conspiring against her!  
  
"There are plenty of people around here. Someone's bound to find her..." He mused.  
  
Emily was livid.  
  
Couldn't they see that this was her bloody hour of need? How did they know that her condition wasn't serious? How did they know that she wouldn't be DEAD by the time someone else came along?  
  
She wouldn't stand for it. They were not going to leave her like this. Forget about dramatic timing. Drastic times called for drastic measures. And she knew exactly which one's to take.  
  
She would feign waking up from a dead sleep. Then she would proceed to act so confused, terrified, pathetic and strangely loveable that no human soul could possibly leave her with out feeling more guilt than some one who had shot an innocent puppy.  
  
It would work. She was, if she didn't say so herself, quite a good actress. Yet another positive trait she had inherited from her mother.  
  
With out further delay, she gave a moan, turned slightly and slowly began to flutter her eye lashes open. Out of her half opened eyes she could see that she was out side on what appeared to be a grassy hill surrounded by dark trees. The four boys were standing still as statues watching her in silent anticipation.  
  
Perfect so far.  
  
Once she had opened her eyes completely she lost no time in widening them in shock as she stared around at the four of them.  
  
Through this phase she took a moment to look at all of them. They seemed to stand in a semi circle from right to left. She was glad to see that none of them were bad looking at all. Indeed the worst was the blond sort of chubby one on the left, and he was actually quite cute, all things considered.  
  
Next to him was a boy with light brown hair. His clothes were quite shabby and there was an almost sad and worn look in his eyes. Quite mysterious she decided.  
  
Beside him stood a rather small and skinny boy with glasses and quite lovely hazel eyes. His black hair could definitely do with a comb though.  
  
And on the very right end...Emily had to will herself to keep from fainting again, and tried to remember her dramatic plan though she found it quite difficult  
  
. For when she glanced to her right, she was faced with the most handsome boy she had ever seen in her life. His brilliant black eyes were fixed on her as he pushed his elegant dark hair from his face. She stared at him praying with all her might that he was the one they had called moony.  
  
Forcing herself to tear her eyes away from him, she gave quite a loud gasp and proceeded to push herself backward, dragging her limp right leg as far as she could. The light brown haired boy stepped forward to her.  
  
"It's allright." He said in his hoarse pleasant voice. "We won't hurt you." This was obviously Moony. She felt only slightly disappointed. The handsome one hadn't left after all, there was still time. She kept on with her performance.  
  
"Where-where am I?" She asked in a small shaky voice.  
  
"Your in Hogsmede." The boy said moving over beside her.  
  
"Wh-Where?" Emily asked attempting to maintain the small and terrified voice intact. She had never heard of a place called Hogsmede. This truly was exciting  
  
"Do-do you know what Hogsmede is?" Moony asked gently.  
  
Emily shook her head slowly. Remembering to shake with fear and to keep her breathing shallow.  
  
"A muggle? Good God!" The handsome boy said from the back in his dark silky voice. Emily did her best not to glare harshly at him. What had he called her? A muggle? She didn't know what it meant but she was sure that it was nothing flattering.  
  
If he weren't so good looking she decided that she just might despise him.  
  
Instead she pushed her self back a little more channeling her anger into a look of confusion and fear. Luckily they bought it.  
  
Moony threw his dark haired friend a sharp look before kneeling down beside Emily and smiling tenderly at her. He had a very nice smile. She did her best not to smile back attempting to remain confused, terrified, pathetic and strangely loveable.  
  
"What's your name?" He asked  
  
"Emily Gardner." She replied before she could stop herself. She suddenly realized what a horribly boring name she had. She wished she could have given him a more interesting one like...Andromeda, or Eponine or Elenora. Oh, Well.  
  
"Emily." Moony repeated smiling. It was strange how her name sounded better when he said it.  
  
"I'm Remus Lupin." He said. She nodded but decided against speaking, she was supposed to be terrified after all.  
  
After a rather akward moment of silence Remus offered her his hand.  
  
"Can you stand?" He asked. She very slowly, and quite hesitantly put a shaking hand out to his and attempted to pull herself up. As soon as she did however, she felt her leg cave beneath her and she let out a small grunt of pain. Quite a nice touch, even if she hadn't planed it herself.  
  
Remus grabbed her arm to keep her from falling completely. He really was quite the gentleman.  
  
She suddenly felt slightly light headed as though she was about to pass out again. She forced it away. The timing didn't seem quite right, she didn't even know who the others were yet. They were still standing cautiously in the back round. Though she noticed the two black haired boys had approached slowly when she fell back to the ground.  
  
"Emily," Remus began slowly noticing his friends approaching.  
  
"This is James Potter," he indicated the small boy with hazel eyes.  
  
"Peter Petigrew" He indicated the chubby blond boy who was standing a good deal back from the others. She now noticed that he was wearing a terrified look to rival her own. If he was faking it, he could give her a few lessons.  
  
"And Sirius Black" She felt extremely faint once more as the handsome boy grinned at her and gave her a small wink. This coupled with the pain in her leg was almost too much to bear. It must have shown in her face because the good looking boy suddenly pulled his face into the first truly concerned expression she had seen him wear.  
  
"You okay?" He asked with his smooth voice. He sounded different when he wasn't being sarcastic or harsh, indeed his voice and those beautiful eyes not to mention her stinging leg were making Emily's head spin in very quick nauseating circles. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.  
  
"Fine" She managed to whisper stupidly before completely blacking out.  
  
So it wasn't exactly the dramatic timing she was hoping for.  
  
At least now they wouldn't leave her there.  
  
At least she'd landed in someone's arms, even if they weren't Sirius's.  
  
She could always get the timing down later. 


	2. The Wrong Place

A/N: Just to make everyone more confused I'm not exactly certain if I should put Emily with Remus or Sirius in the end. I know that somewhere there's going to be a bit of a love triangle, but I'm having second thoughts on who she should eventually end up with. What do you think?  
  
Chapter 2: The wrong place  
  
She faintly heard them speaking again as she felt herself being laid down on a soft warm mattress. There was something like a very sheer cloak she could feel lying on top of her.  
  
Emily could only guess as to where she was now. She assumed of course that the boys had finally wised up and carried her to-where ever it was that she now found herself.  
  
Good. two steps down. Even if she did have to ...er... help them along a bit.  
  
Now there was only the romance question to take care of...  
  
"...I can sleep on the couch in the common room, I'm an early riser any way." She heard Remus say.  
  
Was he giving up his bed for her? If Emily were not so intent upon getting the timing right this time around she would have heaved a sigh. Maybe she was not as far away from winning the heart of a charming prince after all.  
  
"Why do I feel like she's going to be more trouble than she's worth?" She heard Peter's voice ask frantically.  
  
"Oh, lighten up wormtail. We've been in worse fixes than this. A girl's going to be no problem." Sirius Black said.  
  
The very sound of his voice made Emily grow slightly faint again. Why did he have this effect on her?  
  
"How did I know you'd warm up to the idea of keeping her when moony suggested having her stay in our dorm room?" She heard James Potter say, but she didn't quite comprehend it at first.  
  
A dorm room? Indicating that they were not alone in some desolate cottage as she had hoped.  
  
And what did he mean by 'keeping her'? She was a lady after all, not a cocker spaniel!  
  
All though, she thought, it would be very exciting to be kept against her will. Perhaps there would be a ransom.  
  
"She is rather pretty isn't she?" Remus asked the others. She felt him lift the cloak from her and move a strand of hair from her face.  
  
She would have sighed again, had it not been for the timing. She didn't know why exactly, but she liked hearing them talk about her when they didn't think she was listening. She supposed it made her feel like she had the upper hand in a sort of game they were all playing.  
  
"I don't know. I prefer red heads myself." James said.  
  
Emily would have scoffed if she'd been allowed to. Her long, tangled blond curls were not all that she hoped for but they suited her fine thank you very much!  
  
"I've seen worse I guess." Sirius said.  
  
Bastard.  
  
Sure he was good looking, but honestly how picky could one person get?  
  
Okay, so Emily had never really considered herself a tribute to beauty. Her hair was wild and completely unmanageable. Her legs were short and slightly on the chubby end, the rest of her body was rather thin. Her eyes were her best feature they were large and blue, almost green sometimes. Still, she was decent looking. And if he couldn't accept that fact then he had less manners than she could possibly have imagined.  
  
"By the way, my offer still stands, she could sleep in my bed." Sirius said after a short pause.  
  
Emily felt herself begin to blush. Luckily, none of them seemed to notice the color change in her face.  
  
"You would give up your bed for a muggle?" She heard Remus ask incredulously  
  
"Who said anything about giving it up?"  
  
Three of the four laughed at this. Typical.  
  
Well, if they thought that she was going to be the physical slave to four hormonal teenage boys they had another thing coming. The whole prospect was immensely undignified.  
  
Sleeping beauty never had to put up with this sort of thing.  
  
She hoped that the laughter would deter them from noticing the fact that her face was now completely crimson. (Though, not of her own free will mind you).  
  
"Look, the colour's come back. I think she's coming out of it." Peter said.  
  
Damn.  
  
Oh well. Now was as good a time as any she supposed.  
  
She opened her eyes with much less hesitancy this time. After all, she had accomplished what she needed to with the whole confused, terrified pathetic and strangely loveable act. (Even if she had come off as more pathetic than anything else.)  
  
Remus Lupin was kneeling down beside her, almost as if he were at the death bed of a beloved relative. Surely her condition was not THAT serious. Still it was very romantic.  
  
"How are you feeling?" He asked wearing a concerned look.  
  
"A bit better. Where are we now?" She asked only slightly attempting to mask the excitement in her voice.  
  
"Your in Hogwarts."  
  
"What's Hogwarts?" Emily asked curiously. First hogsmead now Hogwarts. Perhaps she had landed herself in a strange, different universe. Like the middle earth she had read about in Lord of the Rings.  
  
"It's um..." Remus hesitated and looked at James and Sirius who gave him equally hesitant stares, though Emily couldn't think why. It was a simple enough question.  
  
The room that she found herself in looked more like a castle tower than a boarding school dorm room. If this was a boarding school, it was far different from the one that she attended.  
  
"A school. A...er-" Remus stumbled again  
  
"Rather exclusive academy. You see they only allow the best" Sirius finished for him. He fixed her with another of his grins  
  
"The best in what?"  
  
"Well, everything" James continued. "Not easy to get in here you know." He straightened himself up and ran one hand through his already thouroughly unruly hair making it worse than it had been before.  
  
If it was supposed to impress her it wasn't working.  
  
"So where are we in this school?" They looked at each other once more this time quite guiltily. And she knew why.  
  
"The...infirmary?" She asked innocently knowing what the answer would be. At least she was brushing up on her acting skills.  
  
"Er..." They continued to stare awkwardly at each other "Well?" She asked impatiently. It certaintaly wasn't THAT, embarrassing to tell her that she was in a boys dormitory. Especially considering that they had been so bold about the fact when they didn't think she could hear them.  
  
"Your in a...that is to say your in our... dormitory." Remus said guiltily staring fixedly at the floor boards beneath his feet. So they really WERE that embarrassed about the whole thing.  
  
Well there was only one thing to do now... milk it for all it was worth. She could have fun with this.  
  
"You mean –a-BOYS-dormitory?!" She nearly shrieked gasping. After all a true lady would be absolutely shocked to find herself in such an indiscreet place as male quarters.  
  
And to top it all off, the frantic looks on the James and Sirius's once bold and very cocky faces was well worth the act.  
  
"Please calm down." Remus implored looking quickly at the closed door as if waiting for someone to burst in at any moment.  
  
"Where else were we supposed to take you?" James asked defensively attempting to hide his increasingly guilty expression.  
  
"Seeing as my leg is broken a gentleman would take me to the hospital wing." Emily said in a dignified voice.  
  
"Well that's out of the question seeing as there are no gentleman here." Sirius said sarcastically as Peter stifled a snigger  
  
"That, sir, is apparent." Emily retorted. Silently she congratulated herself for improvising a comeback which would make Jane Austin, (Her favorite author) proud.  
  
"Emily please listen. Under any other circumstances we would have taken you to the hospital wing. But..."  
  
"But what?" Emily demanded.  
  
Remus stared quite guiltily back down at the floor.  
  
"Look, do you want us to put you back where we found you? Because we can." James said after a rather awkward pause.  
  
"Well, it doesn't appear that I have any choice in the matter. So, for the time being, I'll stay here." Emily said making absolutely certain that they knew she did not approve of this arrangement one bit.  
  
"But I swear if any of you try anything...fresh with me. I'm going straight to the headmaster. Broken leg or not."  
  
This part of her speech was genuine. While she found it quite exciting to be kept in hiding in a boys dormitory, she still considered herself a lady.  
  
"Well there's no fear of that happening." Sirius muttered sarcastically looking her up and down with feigned distaste. Emily scowled at him.  
  
"It's a deal." Remus said quickly looking from Sirius to Emily clearly hoping to avoid a confrontation.  
  
"You'd better rest now Emily." He said in a softened tone taking a pillow and placing it gently under her head.  
  
"Were going to dinner, we'll be back in a couple of hours. I'll bring you something to eat then. If you're hungry that is."  
  
"All right." Emily said attempting to keep a certain note of disdain in her voice.  
  
"'night then." Remus said as he ushered the rest of them out of the room.  
  
As they left, she distinctly heard Sirius mutter.  
  
"I think your right wormtail. She is more trouble than she's worth."  
  
"I heard that." Emily said loudly before she could stop herself.  
  
"I'm sure you did." She heard Sirius say back.  
  
Remus gave her a small smile before he closed the door.  
  
Well, Emily thought as she closed her eyes to sleep, at least the four of them weren't completely hopeless. Remus seemed to have chivalry down to an art. Now if only Sirius could pick it up... 


	3. The Wrong Time

Chapter three: The Wrong Time  
  
"Emily?" She heard a faint whisper from her bedside as she blearily began to open her eyes  
  
"hmm...?" She muttered turning her head to the source of the voice. She really had needed the sleep, though she couldn't exactly think why. It seemed she'd been doing nothing but sleep for the past 24 hours. Not exactly the excitement she'd been hoping to find when she ran away. Still, she couldn't complain.  
  
"Sorry, it's just me." Remus Lupin was standing over her looking apologetic and slightly awkward  
  
"Hello" Emily said smiling blearily. Due to the fact that she was still half asleep, she seemed to have completely forgotten about dramatic timing.  
  
"How was dinner?" She asked  
  
"Fine." He said quietly staring at the floor. "I brought you a couple of biscuits if-if your hungry." He rummaged in his pockets and produced two small biscuits which he set on her bedside table  
  
"That was all I could manage to sneak out with out getting caught. I could get more later if you like." He added hastily, still not meeting her eyes.  
  
"No, I'm fine. thanks." He really was very sweet. Suddenly Emily found herself inadvertently moving her gaze downward also.  
  
There was a rather awkward pause. Emily considered saying something several times before reminding herself that in cases such as these the gentleman is always supposed to speak first. So, it was only fitting that she kept silent.  
  
Besides, the colour rising in her cheeks seemed to have rendered her void of articulate speech.  
  
She had never been completely alone with a boy her age before. And judging by his mannerisms, the situation was new to Remus as well.  
  
"How's your leg?" he asked finally.  
  
"A little better. Still hurts but not as much."  
  
As she spoke Remus moved his gaze from the floor to the end of her bed, where a pillow had haphazardly propped up her broken leg.  
  
"Hmm..." He muttered indistinctly. He walked over to the edge of the bed and began examining the bottom half of her leg. Hesitantly he reached out and touched a bruised spot where her stocking had torn, she gave a small grimace of pain  
  
"Sorry." He said removing his hand quickly.  
  
"It's all right." She assured him. Even though it had hurt when he touched her she realised that somehow she didn't mind at all.  
  
"We really should do something about this leg." He said after another slight pause.  
  
"Well, since apparently the 'Circumstances' won't allow me to be taken to the hospital wing, what else is there to do?" This time putting the dignified sound that she had used earlier back into her voice.  
  
Remus looked thoughtfully at her leg and then quizzically back up at her.  
  
"Well... There is something we could... that is, there is something I could do. But..." He looked very apprehensive, though she couldn't think why. Anything would be better than leaving her leg like this for days on end.  
  
"But what? If you can do something to help please, just do it." She gave another grimace as he put his hand to her leg again.  
  
"All right." He said hesitantly. "But you have to promise not to be too alarmed. This will come as quite a shock." Emily was becoming very excited now. Anything that could cause shock after the monotony of being a politician's neice would be gladly welcomed.  
  
"I won't be alarmed, I promise."  
  
Remus took a deep breath and slowly reached his other hand into his pocket. She began to lean forward to see what he was pulling out when the door creaked open.  
  
He jumped and took his hand out of his trouser pocket. She heard the laughter of the other three boys coming into the room.  
  
She silently cursed them. Now she would have to live with her leg aching like this for who knew how long. If they had only come up maybe two minuets later...  
  
James, Peter, and Sirius turned the corner and stopped dead as they stared at the sight before them.  
  
It was only then that Emily realised precisely what they were staring at. While Remus had removed one hand from his pocket, his other hand, for some reason, remained resolutely on the bare portion of her leg.  
  
Remus seemed to have noticed this to. After barely a moments hesitation he removed his hand and stepped approximately two feet away from her bed. (A shame, Emily thought, she was getting quite used to his hand being there).  
  
This action however did nothing to stop a devilish grin from spreading across each of their faces as the three new comers stared between Emily and Remus.  
  
"Nothing...er... fresh huh?" James asked pointedly, his grin widening.  
  
"Well, that didn't last long." The other two sniggered behind him.  
  
Remus and Emily simultaneous rushed into a flurry of explainations.  
  
"...It's really not what it looks like-"  
  
"You've got it wrong. I would never..."  
  
"It was just my broken leg he was checking..."  
  
"...Making sure it was all right. That's all."  
  
The fact that they were both staring at the floor and turning various shades of red as they said this did not seem to be helping their situation.  
  
"No need to explain Moony." Sirius said still wearing his devilish, yet oddly attractive grin. (If only he weren't such an arrogant bastard, Emily thought to herself).  
  
Remus's cheeks turned from beet red to a shade of scarlet that roughly matched the colour of the drapes around the beds  
  
"I'm sure it was all her idea." Sirius moved toward his bed, clamping his friend on the shoulder as he went. James Followed suit.  
  
"Really!" Emily nearly shrieked. "As if your lack of manners were not enough, but now you have to turn every situation into some steamy sexual encounter." Remus turned his head away, and stared almost guiltily down at the floor.  
  
He wasn't helping the situation Emily thought.  
  
"Just because you see such disgusting potential in every tiny meeting doesn't mean every member of your sex shares this view point. And I for one will not stand for..."  
  
"All right, all right. I get the point!" Sirius yawned as he began to pull the drapes over his bed hanging. Emily doubted weather he'd heard a word of what she had said.  
  
"No. I don't think you do..." She began again.  
  
She was going to drill chivalry into his stupid head or she was going to die trying.  
  
"Emily, let it go" Remus whispered to her.  
  
She glared once more in Sirius's direction but pursed her lips and kept silent. He probably wouldn't listen to her anyway, even if she railed at him all night.  
  
With a sigh she sunk herself back onto her pillows. Remus awkwardly pulled the covers over her, taking care not to touch her broken leg ( a pitty, she thought again). The other three were soon changing behind the drapes of their beds.  
  
At least they had some decency she thought.  
  
"I'm going to bed." Remus announced to the general room.  
  
"Good night Emily." He almost whispered to her, still avoiding eye contact as best he could.  
  
"Good night Remus." She smiled at him.  
  
With a nod he slowly made his way to the door.  
  
"Still sleeping on the couch then Moony?" Sirius asked poking his head through the drapes.  
  
Remus began to blush all over again but didn't say anything as he closed the door behind him.  
  
Once he was gone Emily fixed Sirius with a deadly glare.  
  
"Sorry," He said, not looking in the least bit apologetic. In fact he was grinning again.  
  
"Couldn't resist." 


	4. A Magical Technicality

Chapter 4: A magical technicality  
  
The next morning came particularly soon. Too soon, in fact for Emily's liking.  
  
She groaned as she tossed in her bed and began to sleepily open her eyes. Her leg was still throbbing above the pillow. The pain actually seemed worse today than it had the evening before.  
  
The light behind the stained glass windows showed that it was well past sunrise, but still fairly early morning. She'd never been good at judging time by the light of day. Her father at one point had it down to an almost exact art. He said that it helped with his writing, though Emily wasn't sure exactly how.  
  
She propped herself up on her elbows and carefully looked around the room. It seemed to be deserted. They were all at breakfast more than likely.  
  
She blinked several more times before catching sight of two slices of bacon and toast lying on her bedside table.  
  
Remus, she thought with a sigh.  
  
True, he hadn't proven himself to be as bold as she had hoped for. If he could not even defend her against those friends of his, she could not see him fighting gallantly to defend her honor. But, then again, she had never been given breakfast in bed before, no matter how sick she was.  
  
Perhaps she had the romance aspect down sooner than she thought she did.  
  
Good. That meant three steps down. Now if only an evil villain could enter the picture...  
  
She reached for a slice of toast when the door creaked open.  
  
"'morning." Said Remus as he entered the room, eyes pressed to the floor. He seemed even more embarrassed at her presence than he had the previous night. Of course, Emily thought, she would too after the teasing he had endured from his three so-called-friends.  
  
If there was a more unmannerly, uncouth group of people than the three that this sweet, gentle soul, tagged along with, they kept themselves well hidden.  
  
Especially that Sirius Black.  
  
What right had he to be so good looking when he had absolutely no sense of chivalry what so ever?  
  
And, what right did he have to make her faint at the very sound of his voice?  
  
He had planned it that way. Somehow he had bewitched her into being attracted to him. That's right, it was all a governmental conspiracy!  
  
Finally coming to the conclusion in her mind that the Government was not likely to put so much effort into a run away, Emily turned her attention back to Remus who was still standing by her bed and looking quite uncomfortable, as if waiting for her to say something  
  
"'morning" she said as she took a piece of toast from her plate. "Thanks very much for breakfast."  
  
"Don't mention it." He muttered still staring at the floor.  
  
"Is your leg any better today?" He asked. This time he simply moved his gaze to her pillow. He seemed to be avoiding physical contact with her right leg at all costs  
  
"No it's as bad as ever." She grunted moving her elbows further up the pillow and taking her aching leg with her.  
  
"And what ever happened to that thing you could do to fix it?" She nearly demanded.  
  
Though, she was careful not to raise her voice too loudly, no matter how deeply her leg hurt. A lady never shouts.  
  
"I'm not quite certain it's the best idea...I mean I only just mastered it and... of course there's-"  
  
"Remus please! Anything is better than this!" She said impatiently. She was later appaled at herself for nearly breaking her own rule. She had only just met Remus, she did not have the right to speak to him in such a manner...yet.  
  
Remus did not seem to mind. He looked thoughtfully at her leg and said almost to himself.  
  
"It's true, the pain would be much less, and you would be able to move around. But then there's the question of secrecy. Still, you are my responsibility..."  
  
For the first time, he moved his head to look at Emily in the eyes.  
  
"Promise you won't tell any one?" He asked seriously.  
  
"Who would I tell?" Emily wondered aloud. A faint smile crossed his lips.  
  
"Good point. Another thing, like I said last night, this will come as a shock so..." He turned nervously to the door. No one was there. He continued in a whisper:  
  
"Please don't be alarmed."  
  
"I promise." Emily said eagerly as she watched him reach inside his pocked and pull out a large wooden stick that seemed to have been carved quite elegantly with a black handle  
  
"Imendo" he said pointing it her leg. Immediately bandages flew out the end and wrapped themselves around her leg, lessening the pain considerably.  
  
Emily's jaw dropped and she starred at him gaping. He lowered the stick looking quite apologetic.  
  
"Ho-how did you- what happened?"  
  
"Well, it's better isn't it?" Remus asked smiling slightly.  
  
"Yes. But what happened?" Emily insisted still wide eyed.  
  
"It's quite complicated." Remus muttered. But by Emily was far too excited to know not to press him further.  
  
"Was that magic? What you just did?" She asked eagerly leaning over the side of her bed.  
  
"Well, technically..."  
  
"No technicalities. Was that magic or not?" She cut in impatiently  
  
"Yes." Remus reverted his gaze to the floor once more.  
  
"Oh how brilliant!" She exclaimed a little too enthusiastically.  
  
"So are you a wizard or a warlock? I know they're different. And are there elves and hobbits and white magic and dark magic?"  
  
She spoke very quickly. She knew it! She just knew it! She knew it was all true! This just proved it. Her uncle was a blind, hypocritical, idiot! He had told her none of it existed. Well he was wrong. Ha!  
  
Remus smiled indulgently at her  
  
"You've been reading too many books." He said.  
  
"You can never read too many books." She said attempting to regain her dignified composure.  
  
"Maybe. But it doesn't work quite like that." He said allowing himself to sit on the edge of her bed. He seemed to have forgotten temporarily about the last time they had been found alone together.  
  
"How does it work?" Emily asked returning to her eagerly curious state.  
  
"Well, first of all you sort of have to be born magical."  
  
"How can you tell if you are?" Emily asked leaning further over on the bed. Perhaps she was magical and simply didn't know it.  
  
"You can make odd things happen without meaning too, usually when you're very young."  
  
He said looking slightly uncomfortable, as she was leaning a little further over than was absolutely necessary, and her shirt was quite baggy.  
  
She didn't care at the moment. She was far too interested in this new world to worry about where she was leaning  
  
"How young?" She asked  
  
"Before your eleven." He shifted slightly she could tell he was attempting to keep his gaze fixed on her eyes.  
  
"Well, I used to make odd things happen all the time. Once, I think I broke the television set when I was about six. My Uncle had told me to go to bed before I wanted to. I had just screamed, 'I WON'T' When the entire set blew out. Things like that still happen to me some times. Could I be magical?"  
  
Again, she said all this very quickly. Suddenly she didn't quite remember all the etiquate she had prepared for such an occasion. She had very nearly found herself in a true novel. She needed to learn all she could.  
  
"Since your not enrolled here, I highly doubt it. When you turn eleven, you get your letter to come here. To Hogwarts school of Witch craft and Wizardry."  
  
Her face fell. Remus must have noticed because he added quickly.  
  
"Not that that's a bad thing at all! Were not better than your lot, just different. My mother's a muggle, and there isn't a nicer woman anywhere."  
  
"Another thing. What's a muggle?" She asked, still slightly put off by the less than endearing way Sirius had used it when they first met.  
  
"It just means someone who isn't magical. It's far from the worst thing any one could call someone else." He said kindly, probably sensing her resentment at Sirius's use of it.  
  
"Still it's not exactly endearing, is it?" She asked still rather pouty.  
  
"Well, no. But, It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a word we've always used." He said quickly.  
  
There was a moment of silence before he got up from the bed and she settled back on her pillows.  
  
"I'd bettered get to class. I'll probably be late as it is." He said as he picked up his bag from the side of her bed.  
  
"I'm sorry I kept you." She answered attempting to retrieve her dignified composure.  
  
"It's all right." He said still fumbling with the fastening on his bag. Though she could see his ears turning a vague shade of pink that she was sure had spread to his face.  
  
"Remus, you coming? We're already late." Peter Petigrew peaked his head through the door.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure that what Moony's doing is far more interesting than going to class." Sirius's voice floated up from the hall. She could hear him and James making kissing noises from the other side of the door.  
  
Honestly! What was wrong with men these days, she thought. Well, most men, she decided as her gaze moved back to Remus.  
  
"Coming." He said as he stood up and nearly slipped on a light, sheer and very watery material that Emily vaguely recognized.  
  
"What's that?" She asked her curiosity had piqued again.  
  
"It's James's invisi- oh, er, cloak." He corrected himself hastily.  
  
She looked at him suspiciously.  
  
"Right. By then."  
  
Remus gave her a rather odd look before moving to the door.  
  
"I'll bring you up something at lunch. Bye." He added before following Peter out into the hall way and closing the door behind him  
  
Emily was definitely curious now. But she knew better than to press the matter of the er...cloak.  
  
She had learned from her books that in circumstances like this, the hero (or heroine in her case), was meant to find out things like this by herself. The boys would be gone to classes most of the day. She could experiment with it then... 


	5. Public Property

Disclaimer: You already know, and if you don't I pity you.  
  
A/N: Yes, I know this chapter doesn't have a lot of action. But it's a necessary lead in for the next one. I promise.  
  
Chapter 5: Public Property  
  
It is interesting to note how quickly the idea of a conscience can overtake a person. Especially when that person is about to embark on what could be an exciting, and possibly life threatening endeavor.  
  
As far as Emily could see, there was absolutely no moral issue to putting the cloak on. After all, it was right there, out in the open where anyone could find it. The damned thing was practically begging her to take it and try it on.  
  
But almost as soon as she took her feet off the bed her Uncle's voice entered her head:  
  
'Proper young lady's never borrow with out first asking permission.' He had told her that when she was five just after she had taken her mother's costume jewelry out of one of her trunks.  
  
All though, if she remembered correctly, her mother had found the entire ordeal quite humorous. She had not been angry with Emily at all. (Only her uncle had really seen anything wrong with the situation. As ussual.)  
  
Besides, judging by the fact that the cloak was simply lying on the floor, it seemed less precious to James than her mother's costumes had been to her. Surely it wouldn't matter if she simply tried it on.  
  
And if she didn't take it out of the room, then she wouldn't, technically, even be _borrowing_ it. If it really was only a cloak, as Remus had said, what was the harm?  
  
After all, what else did those boys expect her to do locked in a room all day? Remus had fixed her leg specifically so that she would be able to move around. It would be a shame to put that to waste.  
  
But as her feet touched the floor another thought came to her: Remus.  
  
He trusted her to stay there. In her bed. Where she was safe. He hadn't said as much because he didn't think it needed to be said.  
  
Would she be betraying his trust by putting on that cloak?  
  
Then again, while he may have trusted her to stay in bed, he couldn't have really expected it. He did not even have to know that she had tried the cloak on, it would only be for a few minuets at the most.  
  
Besides, how was she supposed to fight off an evil villan, save the world from injustice, kiss a handsome prince or do any of the things a heroine was supposed to do if she simply stayed in bed? If this whole ordeal was to have a Novelesque pattern, it would be up to her to continue it. And trying on the mysterious cloak would certainly be a first step.  
  
Finally she took the liberty of deciding that the cardinal law for such a situation should be that anything lying in the open could officially be called public property.  
  
With very little hesitation, she stepped off the bed, onto the floor, and headed towards the cloak.  
  
The moment she grabbed it up from the ground, she recognized it's texture. This was what had been lying on top of her when the boys had brought her to their dormitory.  
  
Emily stared at it curiously running her hands under the sheer silver fabric. It did not feel like an ordinary cloak. The material was much more fluid than the velvet cloaks she was used to, and it's hems slipped between her fingers almost like water washing over her hands.  
  
Curious. Very curious.  
  
Once the texture of the cloak was significantly analyzed, Emily deduced that it was safe to try on. (Not that there had really been any suspicion that the cloak was un-safe before hand, but testing before doing seemed to be common heroine etiquitte in all of her novels.).  
  
Carefully she flung the cloak around her shoulders and held it there. She was surprised, (and a bit disappointed), to find that the cloak felt like every other, velvet, run of the mill cloak she had ever seen. There was nothing, as far as she could tell, that was different about the way the cloth felt wrapped around her shoulders.  
  
Perhaps it would feel different once she's tied it. She reached down to find the strings and nearly let out a shriek at what she saw.  
  
She grasped her hand to her mouth as her eyes became as large as Sirius's ego. (All right maybe not quite _that _large, but it did come close.)  
  
Her body was gone. It had completely disappeared. She blinked and looked down again, just to make sure.  
  
Yes. Her body had unmistakably disintegrated underneath the cloak. She had become invisible. Now she was very clear on where the other half of the word Remus had almost said had gone. He had meant to say invisibility.  
  
"_Invisibility_" Emily whispered under her breath.  
  
It was amazing how words could take on new meaning once they had been said out loud. Once she said that word, invisibility, she realized exactly the sort of possibilities were open to her with this cloak.  
  
She could leave the room. Maybe even find out exactly what a school for Wizardry was really like. Even if it was not exactly like the books she read, such a place would undoubtedly be fascinating.  
  
Her mind racing, Emily nearly sprinted to the door. She was not going to spend all day locked up in a boy's dormitory after all.  
  
But as soon as she began to turn the doorknob, the un mistakable sound of feet climbing the stairs reached her ears.  
  
Was it lunchtime already? The battle with her conscience must have taken longer than she had expected. Quickly she threw off the cloak and ran to her bed carefully placing her leg on the blanket.  
  
The door creaked open much sooner than she expected. She silently was grateful that her quick reflexes found her already in bed, and in nearly the position she had been in the last time the door had been open. (Consequently these reflexes were the only positive trait she had inherited from her dear uncle).  
  
It was a good thing too, for the door did not reveal who she had expected when it opened.  
  
"Alright there Gardner?"  
  
James Potter stepped into the room, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was looking at her with the same dark smirk that he wore on the night Remus had been there.  
  
"Fine thank you." She said coldly.  
  
Honestly was it impossible to simply let that little escapade go? After all, it was never going to happen again. Not that she would mind altogether if it did...

But that wasn't the point. She wasn't _that_ kind of girl after all.  
  
"Just came up to get a few things."  
  
"Really?" She said in the same cold and dignified manner.  
  
Inside, however, she began to panic. What if one of the "few things" he was missing was the cloak? Then she would never be able to use it.  
  
She was gratified to see him walk past her bed and pick up two books from his bedside table. One looked like a sort of textbook the other... well she couldn't really tell as he shoved it into his bag as quickly as he possibly could. This was apparently something he wasn't exactly keen to have any one else see as he looked very quickly, (almost as if he were embarrassed), in her direction before snapping his bag shut.  
  
He turned to walk back out the door but hesitated just before he left the room.  
  
"Oh, and don't worry." He said, retrieving his cocky manner and wearing that damnable grin.  
  
"Your dear Moony will be back by lunch time." He threw her a wink before laughing himself out the door.  
  
Of all the nerve!  
  
Well that did it. The final straw.  
  
She was going to follow him with that invisibility cloak and find out as much about the real James Potter as she possibly could. Perhaps then he would not be quite so cocky when it came to women.  
  
And what's more, she would have no moral ambiguities about it what so ever.

After all a boy who leaves his cloak lying around could only expect as much.  
  
It was now public property, and public meant her.

Emily took the cloak from it's spot on the floor, threw it over her entire body and walked out the door, following James (Who was still laughing his head off), down the stone steps.


	6. The Salvation of Man Kind

Disclaimer: I own nothing  
  
Chapter six: The Salvation of Man Kind  
  
"Merlin! Classes have gotten so bloody boring in this place!"  
  
Sirius Black had been saying essentially the same thing under his breath for the past hour and a half. (Emily had been following them from the last passing period and into potions class.)  
  
Honestly! If she had gone to a school where the stair cases changed of their own free will, ghosts wandered freely about the grounds, portraits were alive (and actually spoke to passers by) and the classes taught things like how to transfigure a desk into a pig using a magic wand, she certainly would not have been bored.  
  
Hogwarts was, undoubtedly the most incredible place she had ever seen in her life. It was impossible to count the amount of times that she had wished herself into an abandoned, ancient castle littered with ghosts, cobwebs, torches, and creaking stairwells. These ungrateful little prats lived in such a castle and behaved as if walking through it was like taking the bloody morning commute in London. She couldn't understand it.  
  
"Your telling me mate." James Potter echoed his friend. "I mean you'd think first years would be able to handle shrinking solutions wouldn't you?"  
  
Sirius muttered something in agreement while James switched his bag from his left shoulder to his right.  
  
"Were the potions supposed to be grey or blue when they were finished? I wasn't sure." Peter asked rather frantically trying his best to keep up with the other three.  
  
"They were supposed to be green." Remus said turning his head to Peter.  
  
"Don't tell me you messed them up again wormtail." Sirius said exasperatedly  
  
"No." Peter said a little too quickly. "I was just wondering."  
  
"I bet." James said with a smirk that gave Emily the urge to punch him.  
  
It seemed that in her course of following the four, Peter was constantly belittled. True, she had seen his potion and it wasn't purely green as it was supposed to be, but honestly! There was a little thing called tact.  
  
"Good thing lunch is next." Peter said as the four of them turned a corner. "I'm starving!"  
  
Lunch! In her wonder at the magnificence of the castle and her disdain for the four boys she was following, Emily had completely forgotten. Remus had promised to be back by lunch time. And she still didn't have any thing, which she could possibly use as revenge on James Potter.  
  
"When are you not?" James said to Peter, wearing the same smirk.

Was it possible to pull his face into another expression? Oh, she had to get him somehow! If not for herself and Remus, and Peter, for the dignity of man and (most of all) woman kind.  
  
"Yeah wormtail," Sirius added "when are you going to learn that there are other things in life besides food?"

_Remarkably_ it was at this very moment that they passed a group of rather young looking girls to whom Sirius flashed a roguish winning smile. Each of them burst into an assortment of giggles and blushes. Indeed, one of them looked as if she might faint.  
  
For heaven sake! Had the whole world gone mad? Did chivalry matter to any one at all any more? Perhaps now a days a bloke just had to be some what good looking to set girls hearts a flutter. Never mind the fact that he had no manners what so ever! Just because Sirius was handsome, that was no reason to fall into a dead faint at the mere sight of him.  
  
(Emily had temporarily chosen to ignore the fact that upon meeting Sirius she herself had not only threatened to faint, but had blacked out completely. But she also had a broken leg, and a gash in her head so she had an excuse. Two excuses in fact. So there)  
  
Yes. That was it, she concluded. The world had gone completely, stark raving, mad. And it was left up to her to set it right.  
  
She wondered, was there any thing she could find out about Sirius? Perhaps something that even the other three in their little group didn't know?...  
  
No. She reprimanded herself. She had to focus on the task at hand. Find something on James Potter. This was about him, not Sirius Black.  
  
She continued to follow the boys up the corridor and down the next stair well before she remembered. The book.  
  
Before James left the dorm room he had stuffed a book, rather quickly into his bag. She remembered that his entire appearance had given her the impression that he did not want any one to see that book. This included, she was willing to bet, the other three in his group.  
  
She had found it! The perfect means of teaching James Potter, and indeed the male race, a valuable lesson: girls are to be treated with respect, no matter what the time period. Now if only she could search through his bag while he wasn't looking...  
  
She followed the boys Until they reached a pair of tall double doors that were open to the largest and grandest hall Emily had ever seen in her life.  
  
The entire room, indeed seemed to be made of pure gold. There were golden gothic terraces, and arched windows. Four long, golden tables were set out in the middle of the room. A fifth table stood at the head of the hall, and seemed to fly inches off the ground, completely unaided.

But the most amazing thing about this hall was the ceiling.  
  
Or was it a ceiling? For when Emily looked up, she was certain that she was seeing the sky out side the castle, which was sunny with small wisps of clouds.  
  
Emily stared wide-eyed for a few more moments before she noticed that the boys were moving to the golden table at the far right side of the hall. Limping on her leg (which still twinged a bit), she followed them quickly trying to stay true to her mission. She had to get that book. Whatever it was.  
  
"How long do we have for lunch?" Remus asked a little anxiously as the others took seats around the table, where a meal of Shepard's pie, carrots, and lemon custard had already been set out on golden plates.  
  
"'Bout half and hour I think. Not that there's any hurry." Sirius replied with a yawn as he leisurely leaned his chair back on it's two legs.  
  
God, he was gorgeous. True he was also unmannerly, sardonic, and altogether an arrogant little prat. But still you couldn't deny the fact that he was very nice to look at...  
  
"Oh, there is if your moony and a certain blonde female is waiting in your bed." James said with a wink in Remus's direction.  
  
There it was again. Oh she had to get him back, she just had to. Emily shot a fervent glance toward the bag, which James was still holding by the handle  
  
"I told you nothing happened." Remus muttered as he reached into his bag.  
  
"Right." Said Sirius who looked eager to join in a few good rounds of teasing.  
  
"And Wormtail'll be getting top marks in potions next." Peter who had been sniggering along with James and Sirius suddenly turned rather red and a very sulky expression appeared on his face.  
  
"Well," Remus began defensively from behind a book that he had opened over his plate. "Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I detect a note of jealousy."  
  
His face remained mostly hidden behind the large folds of the book he was reading, but Emily was certain that she saw the faint form of a mischievous smile playing on his lips.  
  
"What are you talking about Moony?" Sirius asked with another lazy yawn.  
  
"Yeah," James continued. "What've we got to be jealous of?"  
  
Remus gave a half shrug, but she noticed that he was still sporting the faintly satisfied grin.  
  
"How are things with Lilly Evans Prongs?" He asked finally, a triumphant sort of air to his voice.  
  
"What does she have to do with anything?" James said. And Emily was happy to note that his face had finally turned it's own shade of red and his cocky expression had been replaced by a rather sullen one.  
  
"Just thought I'd ask." Remus said lightly setting his book down and picking up his fork "Seeing as she's headed this way."  
  
The effect these words had on James were quite astounding. His manner quickly changed from sullen to near panic. His hand immediately jumped to his hair, and he began ruffling it in the same way he had done on the first night she met him.  
  
Quickly he whipped around just in time to see a girl with thick red hair and large green eyes passing their seats  
  
"All right, Evans?" He called to her attempting to put on a rather suave appearance. Emily wondered for the first time, why he insisted on calling girls by their last names? They were human beings after all not footballers.  
  
Lilly Evans stopped and surveyed James coldly.  
  
"Potter." She said with a curt nod. And with that she continued on her way to the far end of the table.  
  
James looked quickly back to Sirius who gave him a shrug and picked up his fork, focusing on the meal in front of him. James, however, pulled his face into a determined sort of grimace.  
  
"Hey, Evans, wait!" and with that he tore down the table after her. Leaving, his bag completely unguarded. At last!  
  
"Think he'll ever give it up?" Remus asked vaguely taking a stab at one of his carotts while balancing his book in one hand.  
  
"Yeah, when hell freezes over. Or when she finally gives in. Which ever one comes first." Sirius answered, his mouth filled with a rather large bite of Shepard's pie.  
  
. During this conversation Emily kneeled down beside James's bag. Now came the hard part. She had to open it and retrieve the book with out any of the others noticing. She looked quickly to Sirius then to Remus, and finally Peter.  
  
There didn't seem to be any threat of them noticing. Sirius was staring in the other direction watching James's progress (or lack there of) with Lilly.  
  
Emily allowed herself a smile at that. She liked this Lilly Evans. She knew how to put the macho men of her day into their place.  
  
Remus was still intent on his book alternating his hand and his fork in order to turn the pages, and Peter seemed too preoccupied with the lemon custard on his plate to notice anything else.  
  
Now was the moment to do it.  
  
So, not entirely reassured, Emily quickly unfastened the bag. Luckily she did not have to rummage far to find what she was looking for. Lying near the top was a brown book with rather elegant golden trimmings on the front cover. Why exactly James had been so embarrassed about this particular item wasn't exactly clear. Just by looking at it Emily couldn't tell what it was. Of course her first guess would have been a...  
  
"Looks like Prongs got the slap again." Sirius's sudden speech made her jump. Quickly she took the book under her cloak and re-fastened James's bag.  
  
Again her quick reflexes had served her well because, not a moment later James came walking back to the tree, shoulders hunched and clutching the side of his face which had gone red.  
  
"So, I take it we won't be hearing wedding bells for you and miss Evans any time soon?" Sirius smirked, taking a last bite of his custard.  
  
"Shut it padfoot." James muttered sullenly as he began to stab at his food.  
  
"Now, I really should go." Remus said putting his book and his plate along with the uneaten half of his shepherd's pie and custard into his bag.  
  
"As James was so kind to remind me, I do have a lady waiting for me. See you later." And with a satisfied smirk he walked leisurely away from the table. Emily followed in a near panic.  
  
She had to get back to the dormitory, take off the cloak, and somehow hop back into her bed with a near healed leg, before Remus got up to the dorm room.  
  
Grimacing she continued to follow him quickly up several flights of stairs. Finally, they reached the portrait of an incredibly fat woman in a pink frock.  
  
Emily slid carefully in front of Remus so that she would be the first to enter the room. Then, if she was quick enough (not to mention extremely lucky), she would be able to get into the dorm room and at least take off the cloak.  
  
"Cornish pixie" Remus said to the portrait, which immediately slid open. Emily ran as fast as the cloak and her leg would allow her to up the stair well and in through the dorm room door which she shut behind her. Quickly, she untied the cloak and threw it to the spot on the ground where it had been before Remus left.  
  
She heard foot steps coming up the stairs. She took the book in her hands and began to hide it under the covers.  
  
Before she jumped back into bed, she took one last look at the book she had, technically, "stolen". But with every intention of giving it back once she had thoroughly humiliated it's owner by revealing, or threatening to reveal it's contents. But it was all for a noble cause mind you.  
  
After all, if she could get James Potter to act in a chivalrous manner toward women, then there just might be hope for the human race. Yes. That is what this little book was, the salvation of man kind.  
  
She looked it over once more and saw the fleeting form of two letters embroidered on the spine of the book: L E  
  
She barely had time to wonder what they stood for when she heard Remus's foot steps coming closer to the room. She hoped back up on the bed and dragged her right leg back to it's pillow just in time to see the door open.  
  
"Hi." Remus said as he entered the room  
  
"Hello" Emily replied hoping she didn't sound too out of breath.  
  
"I hope you weren't too bored up here."  
  
Emily allowed herself a small smile.  
  
"Oh, I found ways of amusing myself..."


	7. Black Mail as Art

Chapter seven: Black mail as art  
  
_Thursday May 13th  
  
Care of Magical Creatures: read chapter 22 page numbers 243-254 how to distinguish a kneezle from a full blood cat  
  
History of Magic: Essay, the Vampire war of 1331 12 inches due Monday (Information in notes...I think)  
  
Divination: None (Note to self: Drop class, is a complete waste of time)  
  
Transfiguration: None (finally)  
  
Personal notes: Must remind self to remain awake during History of magic. Will do no good to learn about vampires if mind is on the good nights sleep I didn't get. Remind self to slap sense into Virginia when she stares adoringly at Sirius Black, is arrogant pig after all. While on subject of arrogant pigs, must-not-use-un-forgivable curse-on-James-Potter. Even if prat deserves it. Bastard. Must sleep, or will lose all sense of self. Yes sleep is good. Good night.  
  
Yours truly, _

_Lilly Anne Evans_  
  
Footsteps. Rather loud footsteps. Stomping up the stairs.  
  
'Here it comes' Emily thought as she closed the cover on the last written page of Lilly Evan's journal. Any moment now, James Potter would come bursting into the room in a rage looking for the pilfered diary of his beloved. She, Emily, would proceed to confront him with her knowledge of said stolen object. Then...Let the fun begin.  
  
Being an actress, she had always had an intuition that she would be good at blackmail. Not that a proper young heroine would ever participate in such illegal practices. And she was still a lady. But desperate times did call for desperate measures. Given that and the fact that the entire tradition of all things good and chivalrous was at stake, she knew she had to do something. (Even if that something was, just slightly, illegal.)  
  
Sure enough within seconds the door burst open and James Potter ran into the room dashing to his bed. Frantically he began turning the covers, his hair tussled worse than usual and his brow had broken out into a faint sweat. He apparently hadn't noticed the fact that Emily was smirking madly at him.  
  
Oh, it was fun to watch him squirm like that.  
  
"Lost anything, _Potter_?" Emily asked sporting a deliberately evil smirk and putting particular emphasis on the use of his sur- name. Two could play at that game, she decided. He quickly turned and looked at her as if just noticing that she was there.  
  
"All right Gardner. Hand it over." He said a threateningly as he could walking over to her bed.  
  
"Hand over what?" Emily asked lightly.  
  
"Don't play innocent with me Gardner. I know you've got it, now where is it?" He said advancing upon her.  
  
"I'm sure I don't have anything that belongs to you." Emily said dragging the moment out as long as possible. This was just too much fun.  
  
James turned away from her in frustration apparently debating on weather he should pull out his wand and hex her into next Tuesday or simply stalk menacingly out of the room. He seemed to have settled on the latter and began to walk to the door.  
  
"However," She began as he stopped in the doorway. "I did happen upon a certain diary belonging to a Lilly Evans..." Emily said using her lightest and most innocent sounding voice.  
  
"But I'm sure that couldn't possibly be what you're looking for, after all what would you want with a girl's journal?"  
  
James walked slowly over to her bed and grasped for the book, which she was holding out of his reach. Now it was her turn to smirk.  
  
"What? Didn't think a girl would be able to out smart a man of _obviously _superior intelligence?" She asked sarcastically.  
  
He finally gave up the struggle and stepped away from her bed looking shocked. As if thinking of something that hadn't occurred to him before.  
  
"Wait a minuet..." He said eyeing her suspiciously.  
  
"I know I put it in my bag. I _remember_ putting it in my bag. How did you...?" He stood staring at her for a moment more before his eyes widened in realization. Quickly he turned to see the invisibility cloak lying sprawled out on the floor, and then looked back at her wearing an expression of mingled furry.  
  
"Why you sneaky little-"  
  
"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Potter. Not unless you want this Miss Evans to simply happen upon her missing diary in your dorm room." Emily had to bite her lip in order to keep her composure  
  
"Yes. I imagine that she could give you a nice little bruise on your other cheek to match the one you got today."  
  
James's hand instinctively reached up to his left cheek, which was still slightly red, a look of panic on his face. Emily nearly doubled over in silent laughter. Who knew black mail could be so much fun.  
  
"You wouldn't... you couldn't. You're not supposed to leave this room." James stuttered. Though she could tell that even he didn't really believe what he was saying.  
  
"Oh, we both know there are ways around that." Emily said innocently.  
  
"What are you talking about? How in the world would you tell her?" James asked now completely panic stricken.  
  
"Well, an anonymous little note would, theoretically of course, do the trick don't you think? It doesn't take much to slip down the hall into the girls dormitory. You don't have to be a genius to realize that the doors are unlocked and the common room is empty during the day. Except for me of course."  
  
Emily's eyes were gleaming in silent triumph. Yes, this would indeed be a conquest for Woman kind in the modern age.  
  
"In fact..." She continued. "I might see it as my duty to inform her of the whereabouts of this journal. After all, a stolen object really should, in all fairness be returned to it's rightful owner. Wouldn't you agree?" Emily said in her most dignified voice.  
  
This put the icing on the cake. The last statement needed to send James Potter past the very edge of sanity.  
  
"You...you...you would-wouldn't. You...you couldn't...."  
  
Just by looking at his face she could tell that it was taking every bit of effort not to break down and beg her not to do what she had just described to him.  
  
"Oh, on the contrary I would. And what's more, I won't feel a bit guilty about any of it. You'd deserve every bit of what you got. Unless..."  
  
This was it.

"Unless what?" James asked frantically.  
  
"Unless of course you agree to abide by a few very simple rules."  
  
"What are they?"  
  
He was begging. She could see it in his eyes. Perfect.  
  
"First of all. From this moment on you are to refer to me by my first name only. Unless, of course, the use of my sur-name is proceeded by the word "Miss".  
  
"Fine _miss _Gardner." James asked with a slightly facicious air  
  
"Second" Emily continued ignoring his sarcasm.  
  
"I do not want to hear any further teasing, inuendos, or even the slightest hint that there are any feelings between myself and one, Mr. Remus Lupin that reach beyond a plutonic nature."  
  
James smirked slightly at that but said:  
  
"Consider the whole thing forgotten. Anything else?"  
  
Emily thought silently for a moment and then said:  
  
"Yes. Please _try_ and lay off Peter. He has such a difficult time as it is."  
  
This came out as more of a request than the other two. And indeed, Emily had not even meant for it to be one of her terms. The thought had simply come to her on a whim. But after she had seen how James and the others treated the poor boy, she felt she owed him something. This seemed to be the one demand that James had difficulty agreeing to.  
  
"All right, I'll try." He said finally. "Although I can't speak for Sirius. So I won't promise anything on that front."  
  
"Good enough." Emily sighed "Here's your precious journal." He took it greedily from her and began to flip open the pages.  
  
Idiot. Emily thought. No matter what she had asked him to do, he would still carry on with his arrogant piggish ways out side the dormitory. Unless of course... Emily smiled as a brilliant idea struck her.  
  
"I just hope you know your going about it the wrong way." She said lightly as she began to pick up the rest of the custard that Remus had brought after lunch.  
  
"Going about what the wrong way?" James asked very quickly. His face was turning a distinct shade of pink.  
  
"I'm just guessing that you didn't steal that diary because of it's stimulating literary value." Emily said, nearly laughing. Honestly, how stupid did he think she was? James's face went pinker. She went on.  
  
"If you want to find out what she thinks of you, she hasn't written anything at all flattering in there."  
  
James looked somewhat dejected at that statement.  
  
"She-she hasn't?" He asked looking at the diary as his face fell.  
  
If she hadn't known him to be so cocky, in that moment, Emily just might have felt sorry for James Potter. The moment passed however, and James straightened up apparently furious with himself.  
  
"And why should I care what she thinks any way? It'll take a while but she'll come around." He said attempting to retrieve his cool non-chalant air from his small moment of weakness.  
  
"Which brings me to another point." Emily said after a slight eye roll at James's failed cool act.  
  
"You won't find any step by step course on how to win her heart in that diary either." Emily finished. This was the point she was most concerned about. Hopefully he would catch the hint.  
  
"Isn't that the kind of thing you usually write about in your diaries?" James had attempted to say this sarcastically but she could tell that beneath it all, he was genuinely interested.  
  
"Contrary to popular belief, girls don't write diaries as handbooks for boys to pick up and use to their advantage. Diaries express our feelings at specific moments. I've never seen one that outlines how a girl really wants to be treated."  
  
Emily explained slowly. It was a bit more complicated then that actually. But James was only a beginner.  
  
"And you how girls really want to be treated?" James asked looking up at her curiously and setting down the open diary.  
  
"Of course I do, I'm a girl." Emily said lightly.  
  
She could see the wheels beginning to turn in James's mind.  
  
"Hey Gar-"  
  
Emily shot him a quick deadly glare.  
  
"I mean, Emily." He continued hastily.  
  
"This... this thing. The way girls want to be treated and all that... do you think you could..."  
  
"Teach you the noble art form that is chivalry?" Emily continued for him.  
  
She took a moment to survey James, and appeared to contemplate the matter. Oh, manipulation was a fun game when played right. Finally she said.  
  
"Well I suppose so, if your up to it. After all your not completely hopeless. But I'm warning you now, it won't be easy."  
  
"Prongs! You coming? We'll be late for quidditch practice!" Sirius's voice called from the stair well. Why did he always seem to have the worst possible timing? And what in the world was quidditch?  
  
"In a minuet Padfoot!" James called back. For the first time it really struck Emily to wonder what all those nicknames meant.  
  
"I've got to go now. But after quidditch could we, you know, start?" James asked hopefully. It was actually quite cute how excited he seemed.  
  
Emily thought for a moment. Remus had promised to come up before bed to check up on her. For some reason she didn't want him to know what James now knew about the cloak.  
  
"No. Don't worry about it then. Tomorrow after dinner will be fine to start with." She said a bit hastily. He looked slightly disappointed at having to wait so long.  
  
"Fine." He said all the same.  
  
At that moment they heard foot steps coming from the stair well.  
  
"Jesus Gardner, you running a harem up here?" Sirius Black said when he poked his head in the door and spotted James near her bed. Emily gave him one of her deadliest glares. James, however, appeared unphased.  
  
"You wish Padfoot." He said smirking at his friend as he walked out the door and down the hall. Sirius however stayed behind.  
  
"You know Gardner, as long as your taking customers, I'm free tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, get out!" Emily said sharply as she hurled one of her shoes at the door. Sirius moved out of it's way quickly, but returned to the doorframe smiling.  
  
"Just checking." He said with a wink before closing the door behind him.


	8. The saving power of chocolate

_A/N: This chapter went in a completely different direction than I intended it to, but the Remus/Emily conversation took longer than I expected so... not a whole lot happens in this chapter. Hope you don't mind.  
_  
Chapter eight: The saving power of chocolate  
  
It is truly amazing the things one can learn when one is locked in a dorm room with absolutely nothing to do. From being in this exact situation, Emily Gardner had seemingly mastered the art of telling time by the light of day (quite as her father had before he was employed).  
  
Now, for example, The sun was peeking through the stain glassed windows and beginning to cast small shadows on the wooden floor. This meant that it was nearly six o'clock. Almost time for dinner.  
  
Remus would be up soon. The highlight of her day, Emily thought quite bitterly.  
  
Not that she didn't enjoy his company. She simply found it much more interesting to talk to him after eavesdropping on him and his friends over dinner via a certain invisibility cloak.  
  
She had only gone one day without and already Emily missed it terribly. Indeed, she was beginning to sincerely wish that she had at least waited at least one more day to tell James that she had used the cloak.  
  
Well, of course she hadn't really _told _him. He'd made that assumption completely on his own. This, however, did not change the fact that James had kept an annoyingly close watch on his cloak ever since the little black mail episode of the previous evening. He'd kept it in his bag the entire day, not once letting it out of his sight.  
  
Emily began to wonder vaguely weather or not the diary would hold just as many blackmail capabilities today as it did yesterday. She could always use the same threat to...er...persuade James to allow her to use the cloak during the day. Couldn't she?  
  
She made a mental note to attempt this after James's first "lesson" that evening. After all, a girl had to have something to amuse herself with.  
  
It was at that moment that a knock came at the door.  
  
"Come in Remus."  
  
Remus had, for some reason taken to knocking on the door to his own dormitory. She had asked him about it that morning, and he had told her it was something he'd learned from his mother. She had always told him that it was simply proper etiquette to knock on the door when a lady was in a room alone.  
  
Though this sounded, to Emily, almost like something her uncle would say, she had to admit that she appreciated the gesture. After all, this was also something a proper hero in a novel would do.  
  
"Hey Emily." He said poking his head through the door.  
  
She noticed that he had also become a bit bolder with her since the "magical bandaging" incident. Which she could only see as an improvement. At least this way his lovely sad eyes were not constantly pressed to the floor away from her gaze. She had to admit that she did like looking into them.  
  
"Hi Remus. So what is it today?" She asked peering at the plate he had brought for her.  
  
"Chicken breast and mashed potatoes." Emily smiled as he laid the plate down on the bedside table. So far the food had proved to be much better than the food at St Magdalene's (That wretched, exclusive, all girls academy which her uncle had put her up in.)  
  
"And what's for desert?" She always asked that question with great anticipation. Because, while she had had wonderful deserts in the past few days, (that included Strawberry tart, Lemon custard, and something called a pumpkin pastie which turned out to be something like a crème puff.), she was still always missing the one element that made her whole world complete...  
  
"Chocolate pudding." He answered  
  
That was it.  
  
"Thank God!" Emily nearly yelled, all dignity quite forgotten as she took the small bowl that held the heavenly chocolate aroma greedily from his hands.  
  
"Just a bit enthusiastic are we?" He asked in a half amused, half shocked tone.  
  
It took a moment before Emily found control of herself once more.  
  
"I'm sorry Remus. It's just that I haven't had chocolate in months!" And with very little hesitation she began to hungrily scoop up the contents of the bowl with the spoon he had given to her.  
  
"Forgive me if I still don't completely understand it. I mean chocolate isn't exactly a delicacy is it?" He said with the slightest hint of an amused eye roll at her current eating habits.  
  
She looked up at him scandalized 'not exactly a delicacy?' how could he possibly say such a thing?  
  
"It is if you've been living off cold soup with bread and chese every day since you were eleven." She said coolly, still shocked at his disappreciation for such a heavenly product.  
  
"Think what you like I suppose. I've just never seen what's so wonderful about it. To me chocolate is just like any other sweet."  
  
Was he mad? Chocolate was the saving food of the world, man's most ingenious creation, and she was sure, no matter what those nun's said about the fruit, chocolate was what had lured Eve to eat from the tree of good and evil. The mere taste of it was enough to turn anyone into a life long addict.  
  
Yet this man stood before her acting as if chocolate, devine chocolate, was merely cheap candy!  
  
She took a deep breath in order to collect her self. It was allright. He was simply unenlightened. At least, she thought to herself, she had found a flaw in someone apparently near perfect.  
  
Besides that gave her something to work on with regards to him. He was going to not just like, but LOVE chocolate by the time she was through with him. And she told him so...er, in so many words.  
  
"Someday Remus Lupin, you too will discover the saving, redemptive, power that is chocolate." Emily told him in her most dignified voice. Yes, that wording was better anyway, more powerful.  
  
"Amazing prediction. Even if it is a bit far fetched."  
  
Emily scoffed realizing that she had her work cut out for her. She proceeded to finish the small bowls contents, as Remus took a seat looking at her almost cautiously as she ate.  
  
As she looked at him she ventured to ask a question that had been burning in her mind for months:  
  
"Remus?"  
  
"Yeah?" He edged forward on his chair.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" She cursed herself for being so vauge. It was a tactic she had learned from plays and movies that she had seen. But it obviously wasn't going to work the same way in a real life situation. No matter how "novelesque" that situation appeared to be.  
  
"Doing what?" He asked looking as perplexed as she had expected him to be. She cursed herself again, but answered slowly. Wanting to get it right this time.  
  
"Well, I mean all of this. Bringing me my meals everyday, checking in on me between classes and before you go downstairs at night, giving me your bed..."  
  
"I won't anymore if...if you don't want me to." He pressed his eyes down to the floor, looking very much like a forlorn puppy.  
  
"No, no. I do appreciate it." She answered quickly. Perfect, she had given him the wrong impression.  
  
"Besides, I-I like having you here." She added quietly. His face brightened at this admission as he lifted his eyes from the floor.  
  
"You do?" He asked smiling brilliantly.  
  
She had saved herself. Even if she had, basically, admitted to fancying him in the process. But his smile made it worth it. (And this time it had reached his eyes, which was rare.)  
  
"Yes." She answered. "I was just wondering. I mean I never get this sort of treatment from the others. In fact I've never gotten this sort of treatment from anyone."  
  
He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.  
  
"Well, I suppose it's because I feel responsible for you." He said carefully.  
  
"After all I was the one who..." He paused suspiciously for a moment.  
  
"...Who found you." He continued finally. Not for the first time Emily had a suspicious feeling that he wasn't telling her everything.  
  
"You say that like it's something to feel guilty about." She said with a small laugh. Remus began fidgeting nervously.  
  
"I should be thanking you on bended knee. In fact, I probably owe you my life." Remus blushed lightly and began to look to the floor again.  
  
"Oh, I don't know." He muttered quietly.  
  
"It's true!" Emily said, again attempting not to raise her voice with him. Their relationship was still not quite at that stage after all. Not that a true lady would raise her voice even if it were. But she hated hearing him belittle himself.  
  
"Remus you have to stop beating yourself up like this. After all, it wasn't your fault I was out there alone at night was it?" He looked slightly flustered but shook his head slowly.  
  
Of course it wasn't his fault. She had that horrible school to thank for that. Those terrible nuns (who were ten times worse than any creature she would have encountered in the wild), had pushed her to the brink of her sanity and forced her, however indirectly, to run away from St. Magdalene's and take her chances in the wilderness.  
  
"And it wasn't you who forced me to climb up in that tree was it?" He seemed oddly hesitant to respond this time. He began to fidget with the edge of her bed covers again. "No, of course not." He answered finally in a strangled sounding voice. Now she knew there was definitely something he wasn't telling her, and she was dying to know what it was.  
  
She thought for a moment. This would have to be handled cautiously if she was going to extract something from him. She would have to find out in a very vauge, yet tactful manner...yes that was the way to approach this.  
  
"See, the idea is preposterous." She began to laugh lightly. The same laugh she had heard her mother use in her plays. It always seemed to work for her.  
  
"After all, that thing, whatever it was, that scared me enough to climb up there, certainly wasn't human."  
  
That was true that large horribly terrifying figure that you had seen just before you dashed up the small tree for safety, could not, even by the largest stretch of the imagination been human.  
  
She looked to Remus hoping that she had coaxed him into telling her what she knew. It didn't look like he was budging though. He had stopped fidgeting but his eyes were still focused on the floor.  
  
"No. It wasn't human." He said quietly.  
  
Damn. She had to find out what he knew. He obviously knew something about that...that...thing that she didn't. She would try again.  
  
Tact, tact. She had to remember use tact...oh sod it.  
  
She was just desperate enough to use the direct approach. It wouldn't work, she knew, but she had to at least try or she'd go mad.  
  
"So what was it?" She asked exasperatedly.  
  
"What was what?"  
  
"That thing that chased me into the tree, what was it?" His face turned red and he hesitated a moment before answering.  
  
"Oh, wolf probably." He said avoiding her eyes.  
  
He still wouldn't budge. She knew it. Oh, well. If she could get James to give her the cloak during the day then she could...yes that would work. She'd just have to wait until then.  
  
"Well, I'd better go. Homework. I'll be back before bed." He moved out of the chair.  
  
"Oh," He added before he reached the door. "And be sure not to spoil your appetite on that chocolate."  
  
"Yes Father." Emily answered sarcastically. He smiled at her and began once again to head towards the door.  
  
"Remus?" Emily stopped him once again before he reached it. She had decided to give it one more try, without the aid of the cloak.  
  
"Yes?" He asked almost eagerly.  
  
"What's the real reason you do all this? I never really got an adequate answer."  
  
Remus looked at her for a second before his cheeks began to flush.  
  
"Well, I suppose I just...like seeing you" He said quietly, his face now beginning to turn completely crimson.  
  
"I like seeing you to." Emily said before she could stop herself.  
  
So he DID fancy her! She wasn't imagining it. How perfect. Now where in the world was that mysterious evil villan...?  
  
He beamed at her, his smile once again reaching his eyes. The moment was somewhat broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat.  
  
They both turned around to see James Potter leaning leisurely against the doorway. He looked at them smirking for a moment, and then opened his mouth as if to say something  
  
Emily raised her eyebrow and looked discreetly in the direction of Lilly Evans's diary, which was still lying on his bed.  
  
A flicker of panic settled into James's eyes for a moment. Then he swallowed and said simply.  
  
"If you don't mind moony, miss Gardner and I have...er... business of a personal nature to discuss." Remus looked back and forth between them perplexed.  
  
"I'll see you later Remus." Emily smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. Remus smiled back at her, but still looked rather bewildered.  
  
"All right then." He said. And with one last cautious look, he left the room closing the door behind him.  
  
"Right then." James said eagerly walking over to her bed.  
  
"What exactly is it that I have to do?" He sat down in the chair in, what he apparently thought to be a cool and charming manner.  
  
Emily heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. This was going to be harder than she thought...

_p.s Please review! I know I sound desperate but...that's probably because I am so...Please! (insert sad puppy dog eyes)_


	9. THe price of chivalry

_A/N: I know this chapter's a bit short but here's the thing: Chapter nine and chapter ten were originally going to be one chapter. It wasn't until later that I decided to split them up. So now you get two for the price of one!_  
  
_Oh, and thanks for the reviews, they made me very happy! (insert happy bunny face)_  
  
Chapter nine: The price of chivalry  
  
"WHAT?!" James asked, his mouth a gape.  
  
Emily glared at him as hard as she could. Honestly! It wasn't as if she were asking for the moon, she wasn't even asking for the cloak really. She simply wanted to use it during the day. James wasn't putting it to any use then any way so what was the harm?  
  
"No way. I'm not giving up this cloak for anyone!"  
  
"I didn't say anything about giving it up did I? I just need to borrow it in order to..." She had to find away to tie the cloak in to the lessons somehow. But how...  
  
"...To track your progress. I'll have to be there for at least the first few days to make sure you don't make a complete fool of yourself." Yes that made sense. Apparently it made sense to James to. He looked now as if he were deliberating the matter quite carefully.  
  
"So, if I give you the cloak, you'll be there to...er...help me along. Not that I need it mind you." He added quickly.  
  
Emily rolled her eyes.  
  
"I'm sure you don't" She said facisiously  
  
James appeared not to have heard her, apparently still deep in thought.  
  
"And what if I refuse to give it to you?" He said throwing a cautious glance at the diary.  
  
"Well, that depends. After all, Lilly will be missing her diary, and she's going to begin looking for it somewhere, if that somewhere just happens to be here..." Emily gave James her favorite 'I've won and you know it' smile.  
  
"All right, all right. You win." James said exasperatedly throwing himself back into the chair.  
  
"I know." Emily said with a light smile.  
  
"So this means I'll have to be on my best behavior for the next few days right?" James asked with a less than enthusiastic sigh.  
  
"Right. You do remember what I've told you don't you?" It had been a while since the beginning of the lesson. She could only hope he wasn't as thick as he seemed to be...  
  
"I think so." James said with his brow furrowed slightly. Oh come on, Emily thought to herself. He held the salvation of chivalry in his hands after all, he had to remember. "First of all, call her by her first name."  
  
Good. One down.  
  
"Second, be silently present, but not too demanding. Let her come to me."  
  
That was two. Half way there.  
  
"Third...is this one really necessary?"  
  
And he was doing so well.  
  
"Of course it is! This rule goes down to the very roots of chivalry! It's possibly the most important of all!" Emily said in a very dignified voice. Rule number three had been her personal favorite.  
  
"But what does being civil to my enemies have to do with Lilly going out with me?"

Still a beginner, he didn't understand yet. So Emily explained it to him...again. ( Honestly You'd think after three repetitions he'd get it).  
  
"I've told you chivalry is not a technique you can turn on and off whenever you wish. It has to become a way of life. Besides, you can bet that she'll be looking at how you're treating everyone else. It gives her an excuse not to like you if you start shooting your mouth off...or whatever it is you do."  
  
Emily made the speech much quicker this time than she had at the beginning of the night. She could only hope that this time she'd drilled it in permanently.  
  
"Well, it's not exactly as easy as it sounds. You don't know some of the people I have to deal with." James stood up from his chair and began pacing again.  
  
"Every one has to live with people they don't particularly like. The point is not to let them get the better of you. If you sink to their level they've won."  
  
Emily said though she felt silently guilty. Some where between the black mail, the lectures, and the death glares (not to mention shoes)she'd thrown at Sirius in the three days she had been there, she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't exactly practicing what she preached. Still it was all in the name of chivalry and that was what was important, right?  
  
"Oh, you just wait until you see the slytherins. It's a bit hard to be civil to your enemies when they're hexing you with your back turned." James said with a cynical and almost twisted smile. She was really beginning to wonder about him.  
  
"That maybe, but the rule still applies."  
  
James took in a long breath but flopped on the chair in clear defeat. "Now," Emily continued. "Anything else?"  
  
"Nope that's it." James said quickly, a hopeful look on his face.  
  
"Oh, no. Your not getting off that easily. Come on, number four." Emily said crossing her arms. If he was going to be a gentlemen he had to do it properly.  
  
"GiveLilly'sdiaryback" He muttered very quickly with his head down. "But wasn't the entire point of this lessons to get her to like me? She'll hate me if she finds out that I took it."  
  
Emily rolled her eyes again. Like most boys, James didn't get it.  
  
"First of all these lessons are for you to learn to behave in a chivalrous manner, if they're properly put into practice they should go much farther than getting you a date." Emily said indignently.  
  
"And second. It's better to be honest from the beginning than to be caught latter and have to explain yourself."  
  
James looked at Emily very hesitantly for a moment then, finally, he conceded.  
  
"Allright. I'll find a way to give it back to her." Emily gave him a satisfied smile  
  
"And I have a feeling that this Chivalry thing is going to be more than I bargained for." James said cynically as he picked Lilly's diary almost lovingly up from it's place on Emily's bed.  
  
"If all goes well, then it should." Emily said in a dignified voice. This experiment was going to work, even if it cost her her life (or something more valuable)  
  
"So this means that for the next few days I not only have to be on my best behavior around Lilly but everyone else as well?"  
  
"That's right." Emily said happily. He was catching on faster than she thought. She just might not have to give up her worthless life after all.  
  
"Why do I get the feeling the others aren't going to like that?"  
  
She knew that by the "others" he meant Sirius. Remus would probably see James's new attitude as an improvement. And Peter would think that James was brilliant no matter what his outlook on life was. But Sirius was another matter entirely.  
  
"'Evening ladies". Speak of the devil.

_As always please review. If you don't I get deepressed and bad bad things just might happen (insert evil laugh) Just kidding. But review it does make me happy!_


	10. Love Thine Enemy

**Chapter ten: Love thine Enemy...Ha!  
  
**Sirius Black had poked his head in the doorway before walking into the room in his usual cocky I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it manner.  
  
"Hullo Padfoot. So what wreck downstairs managed to chase you up here?" James moved from Emily's bed to his own trunk and carelessly threw Lilly's diary back into it.  
  
No matter what he said he still acted like an arrogant prat in the presence of his best friend. She would have to change that.  
  
"Peter tried to do and incendio spell on the common room fire and ended up lighting the curtains. It's absolute chaos down there."  
  
"He's allright isn't he?" Emily asked.  
  
Poor Peter. He always seemed to get the wrong end of things.  
  
"Who?" Sirius asked unconcernedly  
  
"Peter."  
  
"Oh. Yeah he'll be fine. He's always doing stuff like this."  
  
Emily gave him another one of her death glares and turned away. She'd tried lecturing. It was no use. Besides she'd promised Remus that she would lay off.  
  
"So? You usually like a little chaos." James said  
  
"Yeah but then Mcgonagl came in." Sirius threw himself into the chair.  
  
"She hasn't exactly been pleased with me since the whole distraught houself kitchen episode. So I thought it best not to get in her way for a while."  
  
James closed his trunk.  
  
"Well, I suppose I should go down to...er...help." James said with a strangely mischievous smile. Emily had a strange feeling that James's version of 'help' might just involve a few incendio spells (whatever they were. Something having to do with fire no doubt. How unoriginal!), of his own.  
  
"Have fun." Sirius said putting his feet lazily up on the bed as James headed toward the door.  
  
Emily looked to James silently begging him not to leave. The last thing she needed was to be left alone in a room with Sirius Black. James caught her gaze and simply gave her another mischievous grin accompanied by a wink.  
  
"Same time tomorrow Emily?" He said putting on his deep voice. Emily's face flushed as she could see Sirius smirking as he stared between them. But, she wouldn't let him get to her. Why should she care what he thought any way?  
  
"Yes. See you then James." She said defiantly.  
  
And with another wink James left the room.  
  
"Oh...wait until I tell Remus. He'll be absolutely crushed." Sirius said casually as he picked up a string from the floor and began twirling it between his fingers.  
  
For heaven sake! Simply because she was a girl! Still, she remembered what she told James, she had to be civil.  
  
"You're an insufferable git. I hope you know that." She said simply with a smile. That was civil wasn't it?  
  
"I've know that for quite some time." He attempted to appear unphased by this but was failing miserably as his eyes flashed with a momentary sullenness.  
  
Now it was Emily's turn to smirk  
  
Gardner:1 Black:0  
  
"What I still can't work out, is how you can act so prim and proper yet still have at least two of us coming in and out of this room at all hours of the day and night." Sirius said as a cynical, yet attractive smile once again reached his face. (Why did he have to be so, bloody, arrogant?)  
  
Emily's face flushed. Civil, she had to be civil.  
  
"Just as it still amazes me that you can be so arrogant, piggish and uncouth, yet still manage to be oddly attractive."  
  
Damn it. She hadn't meant to _say _that. It was as if her private thoughts had somehow slipped from her head down to her mouth. She was in for it now.  
  
Sirius stopped twirling the string and stared at her, his grin broadening.  
  
"So now you find me attractive eh?"  
  
Emily felt her face heat up again. She tried hard to keep looking him in the eyes.  
  
"That's not what I said." She told him in her most dignified voice. Though she was finding it rather hard to be dignified when Sirius Black was walking over to her bed in his signature seductive manner.  
  
"No, but you meant it didn't you?" He was now leaning against her bed post, a grin still playing on his lips.  
  
"Mr. Black," Emily said again making an attempt at a dignified sounding voice. "I will thank you to not take every word that comes out of my mouth out of context."  
  
Somehow the color rising in her cheeks and her nervous manner had given her away.  
  
"Oh don't try and pull that on me Gardner." Sirius said with a small, almost bark like, laugh.  
  
"You like me admit it." He moved away from the bedpost and walked closer to her. For the second time in three days, the color rising in her cheeks seemed to have rendered Emily void of articulate speech.  
  
When she didn't answer Sirius smiled and leaned, ever so slightly, closer to her.  
  
"See? Behind that oh-so-proper exterior, there's a side of you that would like nothing better than to shag me right now."  
  
How dare he? A gentleman never suggests that a lady could think such a thing. Emily would have told him so if his face had not been barely three inches away from her own. It was all she could do to keep herself breathing properly.  
  
"Admit it." He nearly whispered as he leaned closer.  
  
Oh god he was going to kiss her. She didn't want him to. Did she?...  
  
Of course not! He was unmannerly, sardonic, arrogant and...oh so handsome when his hair fell into his face like that. But that didn't matter. Did it?...  
  
He was leaning in closer to her. She could feel his breath now... closer...closer...  
  
"What's going on?" Came the squeaky and somewhat panicked voice of Peter Pettigrew.

Salvation. Or was it? Emily found herself thinking that if Peter and James had come in only two seconds later they would have come upon a very different scene.  
  
"'nother conquest Padfoot?" James asked from the door way.  
  
As Emily propped herself up on her pillows she could see him supporting a slightly wobbly Peter who's face and hands had both been a bit singed.  
  
"Just saying goodnight." Sirius said not moving from his position above her. He suddenly reached down and gave her a rather hard pinch on the cheek.  
  
"'night Love" he said laughing as he pulled himself back up and began to walk to his own bed.  
  
Emily opened her mouth several times to say something very sharp to him but found that words were not enough to express her outrage. Just when she thought he could sink no lower!  
  
In the end she settled for and indignant "humph" as she grasped the curtains around her bed and pulled them closed.  
  
Well, she was glad of one thing; Remus hadn't seen that little episode. She still fancied him after all. Nothing Sirius could do would change that. Would it?  
  
No, Emily told herself firmly.  
  
As she laid her head down to sleep she considered removing rule number three from James's required list.

Obviously civility toward one's enemies did not always give desired results.

_Again thanks for reviewing. Do it again please! It was really quite nice._


	11. Dropping Eaves

_A/N: I thank you for the reviews. You therefore have my blessing on your life witch at this moment in time is officially sacred (hey if you don't believe me ask the pope.) And now, on with the next installment:  
_  
Chapter 11: Dropping Eaves  
  
Upon two weeks of appraisal of James's performance via the cloak, Emily had come to two very distinct conclusions.

One: men have no clue what so ever about the way the world works outside their own unnaturally large heads.

Two: Chivalry can be taught.  
  
On the one hand, James didn't seem to understand a concept that created one of the basic ground rules of a chivalrous attitude: humility.  
  
No matter how hard Emily had tried to explain it to him, no matter how many times she had covertly stepped on his foot beneath the cloak during his attempted conversations with Lilly, James Potter's favorite topic of conversation was and, (she feared) always would be: James Potter.  
  
If she had to hear one more time about how he had won the quidditch (apparently a sport played on broomsticks, that sounded a bit like football.) cup for his house team the previous year after performing a spectacular dive in grueling conditions, she would hurl herself out of the nearest window  
  
It was obvious that Lilly Evans shared her sentiments about James's topic of conversation.  
  
Though, to his credit, James had as of late been able to engage Lilly( he had successfully grown into the habit of calling her by her first name), in short civil conversations that did not involve slaps, insults, or any other confrontational devices. And this, Emily thought, was reason to congratulate herself.  
  
So Emily continued to follow James despite the fact that she had promised her observation would only take a few days. James, after all needed all the help he could possibly get while around Sirius Black, who was not exactly the best influence.  
  
Not that Emily didn't have her own motivations (other than James's continued progress) for following the four of them. She had known from the beginning that these little outings would be for her own enjoyment as much as the continued battle for chivalry in today's day and age.

And Emily was beginning to find that nothing gave her more enjoyment than watching Remus Lupin concentrate.  
  
It was really adorably attractive the way little frown lines appeared on his forehead while pouring over the review for one class, or the homework for another. She even found that she had grown fond of his attempts at convincing the others (namely Sirius) to do the same. It was rare when he had the strength to scold his friends, and Emily always felt as though she was being let in on a treat when she heard him do it.  
  
Not to mention that a veil of mystery surrounding Remus continued to pique Emily's curiosity. She still had not discovered what exactly it was that he was keeping from her, but she was now positive that it was something of importance  
  
Needless to say, it was becoming difficult to stick to her mission. She only hoped she could keep James from noticing that she didn't exactly give 100% of her attention to all of his attempts at wooing Lilly, preferring instead to keep her eye on his mysterious friend. This became a problem one afternoon in early June.  
  
"So how did I do?" James whispered once he had pulled Emily aside to a dark corner.  
  
To tell the truth Emily hadn't even realized that James had met Lilly in the hall after Ancient runes. She had been quite intent on watching Remus's attempt to walk, carry his bag, and read the assigned chapter out of his transfiguration book at the same time.  
  
Still, Emily proceeded to answer James's question. Which in essence meant, she proceeded to...er...fib.  
  
"You're doing much better." She felt almost sickened with herself, but it seemed to be what James had needed to hear.  
  
"Thanks." He said giving her a rather adorable smile that turned a guilty knot in her stomach.  
  
"I was thinking of trying to partner her in charms next. Is that a good idea? I mean at this stage..." James said biting his lip and looking hesitantly at Emily  
  
"I think it _is _a good idea to have more than a two minuet conversation with her. So go for it." She answered in a mannerly voice.  
  
James looked relieved to hear her say this and began to walk back to the hall before Emily grabbed his arm again. It was worth reminding him one last time.  
  
"Just remember, whatever you do, do not talk about yourself." Emily implored him for the umpteenth time. Now, however James put on his cocky grin.  
  
"Well I'll try, but it won't be easy. I mean you try not talking about me."  
  
Emily rolled her eyes, but put the invisibility cloak back over her head and followed him out to the hall, doubting seriously weather humility was a trait that he could ever aquire.

They stoped in front of the charms class room where they met up with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.  
  
"Where have you been Prongs?" Sirius asked, slightly agitated. "We've been waiting out here for ten minuets."  
  
"Sorry, got distracted." James muttered distractedly as Lilly began to walk down the hall with her usual group of giggling girlfriends.  
  
"Right." Sirius said smirking as he watched James's gaze follow the girls into the classroom "You've been er...distracted a lot lately."  
  
"By the way, congratulations on that front." Remus said putting his transfiguration book back into his bag. "You haven't been slapped in what, two weeks now?"  
  
James put on another one of his cocky, triumphant grins. "Yeah, I told you she'd come around."  
  
Of all the egotistical nerve! He seemed to have forgotten that if it hadn't been for Emily he would still be getting the cold shoulder. Emily took it upon herself to remind him of this and promptly slamed her foot down on his.  
  
"Ouch!" James yelped  
  
"What is it?" Peter asked  
  
"Stubbed my toe on that step." James answered but continued under his breath "Would you quit doing that?"  
  
"What did you say?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Nothing." James replied a little too loudly.  
  
"hmm..." Sirius responded looking at him suspiciously as they reached the door and began to take their usual seats. Remus and Peter sat down at a double desk at the very front of the class room.  
  
Sirius began to take the few steps to the desk directly behind them. James, however, took a sudden glance at Lilly Evans. He made a determined sort of grimace and walked over to the other side of the room where Lilly had set down her books at a desk by herself.  
  
"Fine, just abandon us then!" Sirius called looking vaguely sullen as James began to cross the room.  
  
Emily was once again torn as Remus began to take out his charms book.

On the one hand she would have loved to watch him concentrate throughout an entire lesson as he would no doubt do, but on the other hand she had a purpose for using the cloak and she couldn't make up excuses for herself forever.  
  
In the end the latter hand won out and, grudgingly, and with one last longing look at Remus's narrowed eyes as he studied the page in front of him, Emily followed James across the room.  
  
"Hey Lilly." James said in what was supposed to be an off hand, casual voice.  
  
Lilly looked slightly reproachful, but not unhappy to see him. At least they were getting somewhere.  
  
"Hello James" She said slowly bending over her bag to hide a small blush that Emily noticed was creeping into her cheeks.

Perfect. Now they were definitely getting somewhere.  
  
"Look, I was wondering...if you wouldn't mind sharing a desk with me today." James was nervous and he sounded like it.

Good. He was finally beginning to understand sincerity.  
  
That only left humility and that civil to your enemies thing (which wasn't quite so important any more. Especially after Emily had met the slytherins. They truly were a violent, unpleasant lot.)  
  
Lilly looked at him for a moment and then turned to her girlfriends who had been watching the scene with rapped attention. As Lilly looked at them they collectively began to giggle. Before anything else could be said each of the girls headed off to separate desks leaving Lilly quite on her own.  
  
"All right I guess." She said once certain that all of her friends had abandoned her.  
  
"But just this once. I don't want you making a habit out of it." She said in an attempted stern voice. Though Emily was quite sure there was a small trace of a smile on her lips.  
  
All things considered James did very well for himself this time around. He kept most topics of conversation on the lesson at hand, he barely mentioned quidditch or his athletic ability, and actually managed to make Lilly laugh more than once.  
  
Things were going so smoothly in fact, that she was able to steal the occasional glance, (or long luxurious stare) at Remus Lupin who had finished his work and was currently writing intently on a spare piece of parchment. No doubt it was an essay for another class. But she had to wonder what class could possibly cause Remus to write so meticulously?  
  
"So, there's another hogsmead visit next weekend..." James stirred Emily from her silent revilry.  
  
"Is there?" Lilly answered coolly, as if bracing herself. Emily resisted the urge to pull James out of the class room with all the force she could possibly muster.  
  
"Yeah, they say it's the last one of the year."

What the hell was he doing?  
  
"They do, do they?"  
  
It was _much_ too early for the courtship phase to begin. She thought she'd _told _him that.  
  
"So, do you want to go with me?"  
  
Apparently she'd forgotten or it had conveniently "slipped" his mind.

In any case Lilly didn't look all too enthusiastic.  
  
"James we've been through this. I'm not interested." She said exasperatedly.  
  
"Oh, all right then." James said, not attempting to hide his dejected state. This seemed to win him a bit of sympathy  
  
"But thank you for the offer." She added politely giving him a small smile. Though this seemed to cheer James up a bit, it did not stop him from throwing a mutinous glare in, what he was certain, was Emily's direction.  
  
Emily however didn't catch the look that James sent her way, as she was looking across the room.

Her subject was no longer Remus Lupin, but the greasy haired hook nosed small and lanky teenager sitting just behind him.  
  
She had come to know Severus Snape in the past few weeks as extremely odd. There was no other word for it. He seemed to have a dark and bitter aura. Emily was in fact certain that he was one of the quiet ones, waiting, just waiting for his chance to snap. To do something so sinisterly evil that no one could ever have possibly seen it coming.  
  
And it was clear that the foursome that she followed had the same feeling about him, only they (two of them at least...three guesses which two) chose to take a more...er... active role in Snape's inevitable combustion. There were times when they were down right cruel to the poor boy.  
  
And there were times when she herself did feel sorry for him, but now was not one of those times.  
  
For now Severus Snape was wearing an evil smirk on his gaunt face and eying Remus's half open bag with undisguised glee as Remus attempted to covertly fold four pieces of parchment and stuff them into his bag with out any one noticing.  
  
Emily got the feeling that, like James with Lilly's diary, these pieces of parchment were something that Remus did not want any one else to see.  
  
It was clear however, that like Emily, Severus Snape had seen them. It was also clear by the gleam of triumph in Snape's eyes that, unlike Emily, he planed to use this knowledge to his advantage. Whatever that was.  
  
Well Emily wouldn't stand for it. She had to stop whatever he was planning to do. After all, Remus had never done anything to him. And she wouldn't watch him get in trouble because some undoubtedly quiet homicidal maniac had pinned him down as a target.  
  
She would have to keep a close eye on Severus Snape.  
  
Quietly she walked over to the other side of the room and slipped between Snape's desk and the small space before Remus and Peter's row.  
  
Snape was still eying Remus's bag which was lying on the side of the wall, apparently currently unguarded, with fervor.  
  
It was only moments later that the bell rung and Severus stood up like a shot, grabbed his bag and hurried down the steps.  
  
When he reached the wall where Remus's bag had been haphazardly laid, he took a quick look at Remus who was busy closing his book and meticulously, almost lovingly, folding another piece of parchment, looking away from his bag.  
  
Satisfied, Snape quickly, quietly, grabbed the bag by the handels and walked briskly out of the class room before anyone else.  
  
Emily knew it. She knew she didn't like him from the moment she laid eyes on him. (Though, she thought, he would make a quite fitting mysterious evil villan...)  
  
But that didn't matter now. Now, somehow, she had to get the bag away from Severus Snape before he saw...whatever it was that Remus didn't want him to see.  
  
Emily followed Snape out of the classroom and into a dark corner where he opened the bag and took out the four folded pieces of parchment. He unfolded the first with a smile lighting his face.  
  
Emily tried to think of something she could do to get that parchment from Snape's grasp. She inched closer to him trying to see it she could possibly reach it from over his shoulder. Yes that might work.  
  
She had almost reached her hand out to take the pilfered object from Snae's greasy hands when three words written at the top made her stop dead in her tracks:  
  
_My Dearest Emily..._

_(I know, I know, Cliff hanger...evil. But if you want the next chapter you'd bettered review. And I mean it this time! No more ms. Nice Author  
  
Love you.) _


	12. Glorious Obsession

_AN: Yes I know this chapter's a bit long. The next one will be shorter, I promise. Oh, and thanks for reviewing. It's because of the two of you I got this chapter up at all!_  
  
Chapter 12: The Glorious Obsession  
  
The world seemed to have stopped turning as Emily began to read over Snape's shoulder:  
  
_My Dearest Emily_,  
  
_I wish that I could understand this strange feeling that seems to come to the pit of my stomach every time I see your sweet face. I can't explain it exactly, but it's almost like walking outside into the warm air when you've been locked in a cold dark room your entire life. Like walking into the sunshine, that's what it felt like the first time I saw you. The first time your eyes blinked open underneath that tree.  
_  
Emily nearly allowed a squeal of delight to escape her lips before she remembered that she wasn't Technicaly "supposed" to be there. Quickly she covered her mouth and continued to read over Snape's shoulder.  
  
_I didn't know what it was then, I still can't exactly pin point it. I thought that it would go away after a while, but it hasn't. I still feel that way every time I see you. Even if it is just a few minuets after lunch or before dinner. And every time it's never enough. I want to be with you, talk to you, see you every minuet of every day  
  
_She knew exactly how he felt. His meal time visits had become, in fact the highlight of her day. She had reasoned, before the letter that she simply enjoyed talking to someone whom she didn't have to teach or scold as she did with James and Sirius. But if she was honest with herself it was something a bit deeper than that.  
  
_I'm still not exactly sure what this is but, I have a feeling of what it might be. I suppose it's safe to say it here, with this quill, on this parchment. Yes, it is safe here since I will never let you read this letter. Not even in thirty or forty years when we're already married with three children and two dogs and... I'm fantasizing again.  
  
_The way he was talking it was almost as if... but no. They had only known each other for two weeks. It was far too early for..._that_. Wasn't it?  
  
_All right. The point that I'm trying to make is, I think I'm in love with you.  
_  
Apparently he didn't think it was too early for..._that._ And at that precise moment it didn't matter. In fact nothing seemed to matter anymore. The rest of the world's joys and problems and concerns seemed to pale in comparison to the last sentence she had read on that little piece of parchment.

He loved her! Remus Lupin was in love with her! Emily held her hand over her mouth to keep herself from shouting so that every one in the world would be able to hear her.  
  
(That would certainly silence Severus Snape who was now openly sniggering at the same sentence. Men just didn't get it.)  
  
The letter went on, but before she could read any further...  
  
"Playing hide and seek _Snivelus_?"  
  
Emily and Snape both turned around to find that Sirius Black had penetrated the dark corner, his wand out and pointed directly at Snape. Remus Lupin, who was currently wearing a rather panicked expression as his eyes darted to the parchment in Severus's hands, followed Sirius.  
  
"Can we play?" Sirius's eyes darkened maliciously  
  
Snape pulled out his wand faster than she had time to blink, but apparently it wasn't soon enough.  
  
"_Expeliarmus_." Sirius said almost lazily. Instantly Snape's wand flew out of his hand and at least three feet into the air.  
  
Emily watched in awe as Sirius caught it deftly with his left hand, while his own wand in his right hand was still pointed at Snape.  
  
"Now, I believe you've got something that belongs to my mate here." Sirius indicated the bag, but Emily couldn't help but notice that Remus seemed much more interested in the parchment currently in Snape's hands.  
  
Of course he wouldn't want anyone to know how he felt about her, he didn't even want her to know how he felt about her. Why were men always so embarrassed about this kind of thing?  
  
"If it's so important to him, why doesn't he get it himself?" Snape retorted. He too seemed to have realized that what really mattered to Remus was the parchment, because he was now waving it slightly in his hand and giving Remus a defiant sneer.  
  
Hesitancy and indecision played on Remus's face, indeed his expression looked almost pained.  
  
He had told her rather early on that magic was not allowed in the halls. And magic, Emily was willing to bet, would be the only way to get those pieces of parchment out of Snape's hands. Yet, in all the time she had been following him, she had never known Remus to break a rule. No matter how small or insignificant.  
  
"Unless of course you'd rather have Black fight your battles for you Lupin..."  
  
What a greasy little git! Forcing Remus to make such a decision was sinking to a new low.  
  
Apparently Sirius (for once) felt the same as Emily. He raised his wand to Snape's throat a look of fury on his face. He opened his mouth to say something before Remus stopped him.  
  
"Si-sirius, please. I can handle this."  
  
Remus first took two steps toward Severus and made a grab for the parchment. Snape quickly jumped out of the way, his sneer broadening into an evil grin.  
  
"Alright then" Remus muttered almost to himself.  
  
Still looking quite hesitant, yet oddly determined, he slowly began to take his wand out.  
  
Emily couldn't believe it. Remus Lupin, prefect, near perfect student, was going to break a firmly set school rule. And for what? For a letter! And, sort of... for her.  
  
Well, not if she could help it. She didn't need him landing himself in trouble on her account. She wasn't worth it. (Oh, God! Emily thought, she was even beginning to _think_ like a clichéd romance novel).  
  
So, before Remus could lift his wand another centimeter, Emily stuck her foot out and swung it swiftly beneath Snape's legs, causing him to fall flat on his face. The four pieces of parchment that had once been clenched firmly in his hands scattered out across the floor.  
  
Remus, apparently quite relieved, hurried to pick them up.  
  
Sirius forcefully pulled Snape's head up by his long greasy black hair in order to look him in the eye.  
  
"Watch yourself _Snivelus_," He whispered threateningly as Severus struggled to his feet.  
  
"Next time I won't be so forgiving." Sirius lowered his wand, grabbed a hold of Severus's robes and shoved him out of the corner.  
  
With one last defiant sneer, Snape grabbed hold of his own bag and disappeared down the corridor.  
  
"You got lucky with that one moony." Sirius said as he watched Snape leave.  
  
"I thought for a second that the perfect little prefect would've had to break a school rule."  
  
Remus made an indistinct sound as he moved to pick up the second piece of parchment that had landed next about a foot away from his bag.  
  
"What I can't understand is what that slimy little greasball wanted with this stuff in the first place." Sirius said in a casually perplexed tone as he picked up two of the pieces of parchment that were lying next to his foot.  
  
One of them she realized, contained the first part of the letter Remus had written to her. The other...Emily moved closer to get a better look.  
  
From what she could see the other parchment Sirius had picked up had a drawing on it of a pair of, rather large, rather heavy lidded, rather familiar eyes.  
  
Emily nearly let out a sigh again. Remus had taken the time to draw her eyes.  
  
Wait a minuet, she thought suddenly. Just her eyes? What was wrong with the rest of her body? Sure her eyes were her best asset, but the rest wasn't _that _bad. Was it?  
  
She quickly chastised herself. She was being selfish. Besides poor Remus would no doubt have to endure all manner of teasing for the sake of her eyes. She could at least be grateful.  
  
"What is this Moony?" Sirius asked in a half amused half disgusted voice.  
  
Remus turned around too late to see Sirius starring alternately at his doodle and his letter.  
  
"Oh," He said attempting to control the red in his ears from continiuing down to his face. "Just a doodle." He reached over to grab the two stray pieces in Sirius's grasp, but Sirius tugged his hand away as he continued looking at the parchment.  
  
"Really?" He said sneering broadly. "Then why do these eyes look so familiar?" Remus looked down to his bag attempting to hide the fact that his face was now completely scarlet.  
  
"Let me guess this other piece has the exact same eyes drawn all over it..." Sirius still grinning playfully, was becoming increasingly amused at the panicked look on Remus's face. He slowly began to look at the second page in his hand, the page that contained the letter.  
  
"Oh, looks like I was wrong." Sirius's eyes were now gleaming as he looked over the letter.  
  
"_My Dearest Emily_," He began to read aloud.  
  
Stupid prat. It was enough that the letter had been stolen in the first place with out his friends taunting him about it to. Still, from the likes of Sirius Black, she should have expected as much.  
  
"Give it back, Padfoot, please?" Remus said frantically as he once again reached for the letter.  
  
"_I want to be with you, talk to you, see you every minuet of everyday._ You know Moony, normal people would call this an obsession." Sirius said looking over the letter as he kept it out of his friend's reach.  
  
"Sirius please!" Remus implored once again. Finally Sirius looked ready to relent.  
  
"Alright alright, here." He said handing the parchment back to Remus, who slowly, almost lovingly folded the two pieces in turn and put them back into his bag.  
  
"But honestly, if I were you mate, I would just go shag the girl and get it over with." Sirius said as they turned out of the corner and headed back towards the charms class room.  
  
Emily and Remus's mouths both dropped open.  
  
Well, that was it! The new height of male chauvinism in todays society. When did men begin to get the idea that they could just go and 'shag' (one of the most horrid expressions in the English language in Emily's opinion.) anyone they wanted?  
  
"You would do that?" Remus sounded as disgusted as Emily felt.  
  
"Yeah, in a heart beat." Sirius said casually.  
  
Emily nearly stumbled over the cloak and had to hold herself up to keep her balance.

It was part of this sick attraction she had to Sirius Black that he could make her fall all over herself and turn completely red at the thought that he would be willing to "Shag" her. And in a heart beat, no less.  
  
Remus threw him a reproachful look.  
  
"Well, thank god I'm not you." He said as they neared the class room where Peter appeared to be waiting for them. "I have a bit more respect for her than that."  
  
She was glad at leas that the boy who had fallen in love with her (At the very thought she was nearly tempted to dance a jig.), was a gentlemen unlike the other men that surrounded him.  
  
"suit yourself. I'm just saying, she's already in your bed..."  
  
"Did you get it?" Peter asked almost excitedly as they aproached him.  
  
"Yes wormtail, we got it." Remus said giving a strange look to Sirius as he showed Peter the bag  
  
"Wow. What happened?" Asked Peter. He sounded very much like a child eager to hear a story.  
  
Sirius and Remus related the entire event to Peter who seemed to be listening with rapped attention.  
  
"_You_ almost performed magic in the corridor?" Peter asked amazed. They had reached the point in the story before the revelation of the letter, but after Snape's dramatic exit.  
  
"Looks that way." Remus answered. His ears began to turn red with the knowledge of what was coming next.  
  
"Why?" Peter asked perplexed. Yet it was Sirius who answered as Remus began to fix his eyes on the floor.  
  
"Oh, no special reason. Moony here was just protecting his _interests_." Sirius said smiling amusedly at Remus who's face was turning pink.  
  
"What does that mean?" Peter asked anxiously.  
  
"It means that Padfoot was being a nosy prat." Remus muttered defensively.

Sirius appeared not to have heard him as he continued to answer Peter  
  
"It means that Snape found some rather...er... personal articles in moony's bag relating to his obsession..."  
  
"Would you quit calling it that ?"  
  
"Well that's what it is."  
  
Remus gave Sirius a death glare, which Emily realized with pride, was somewhat reminiscent of her own.  
  
"OK." Sirius conceded, looking rather alarmed. (No doubt he had noticed the resemblance also.) "...that related to his ...er...interest in a certain item currently being contained in our dorm room."  
  
"You mean Gardner?" Peter finally caught on after a rather muddled pause.  
  
"Shh. Not so loud." Remus whispered, looking frantically at the passing students.  
  
"Oh, don't be so jumpy." Sirius was in contrast louder and more boisterous than ever. Reckless idiot, Emily thought savagely. "No one knows what we're talking about anyway."  
  
"Including me, what _are _we talking about?" James caught up with the other three at a near run as they headed closer to the great hall.  
  
"If _someone _wasn't busy chasing after Lilly Evans they'd know wouldn't they?" Sirius said in an almost sullen voice.  
  
"Before we know it you'll be writing little love letters, like Moony here." Sirius abruptly regained his enthusiasm for teasing Remus.  
  
"A love letter?" James said grinning maliciously.  
  
"Well, I was bored... I'd finished with the work ...and...and...what else was there to do?" Remus stuttered in a failed attempt to defend himself.  
  
He was really quite cute when he got all flustered like that, Emily decided.  
  
"And to whom was this letter addressed?" James asked, with a malicious grin  
  
"Three guesses." Sirius said  
  
"Ah, Emily." James said with a newfound understanding.  
  
"Would you quit shouting it?" Remus whispered once again quite frantically. As he pulled the doors open to the great hall.  
  
As much as Emily would have liked to continue to follow them through dinner, she and James had both agreed that she would be back in the dorm room as soon as lessons were over. So, grudgingly, with one last look at the group as they began to join the que for dinner, she headed up the stairs to the common room.  
  
As she mounted the stair well, she couldn't help feeling that finding out about Remus's obsession was the most worthwhile discovery she'd come upon in the past two weeks.  
  
A sweet, handsome, chivalrous, genleman was in love with her! And she knew, the moment before her reading of the letter had been so rudely interrupted by Sirius Black's now infamous bad timing, she was quickly falling in love herself.

__

_Review and there shall be peace and harmony with in the confines of fanfiction. Don't review and suffer my...displeasure_


	13. Requited Love

_A/N: I'm going away for three days, so the next chapter may take a bit longer. I'm sorry. But I will be back with a nice long chapter for you. I promise_

Chapter 13: Requited Love  
  
"My dearest Remus,"  
  
Emily began composing the letter in her head. But could not seem to find her way past those three words.  
  
"My dearest, darling, sweet, wonderful, perfect Remus" She muttered to herself as she grabbed one of _his_ pillows and gave it a body hug as if it were the last thing she would ever hug again. A string of small giggles ( the fourth in the twenty minuets that she had been laying on _his _bed.) issued from her mouth, and she made no attempt to hold them back.  
  
This was surely love. The butterflies in her stomach, the little letters, and the sweet smiles they sent to each other. Yes, it was love. And it would be love forever and ever until the world stopped spinning  
  
Emily did, of course, realize vaguely that she could not simply stay in this dorm room forever. But that was a small issue, which did not matter in the slightest.  
  
She now only had one issue that seemed worth tackling: did it have to be three children? She'd had her heart set on two. Oh, well. Along with chocolate she could simply add that to the list of things she would have to change his mind about before the marriage...  
  
There was a knock on the door. Remus.  
  
Another fit of pleasurable giggles threatened to envelope her. This time she had to hold them back. After all, he wasn't supposed to know that she knew about the letter.  
  
Suddenly her feeling of euphoria was replaced by a strange sensation that she was being entangled in something way over her head.  
  
(The hero's in novels usually told the lady's, more or less, that they loved them. They didn't hide it in "never to be read letters". Unless you counted Cyreno de byrzurac, but that was a completely different story.)  
  
"Come in." She said attempting as best she could to hide the rebellious giggles that were still fighting their way out of her mouth.  
  
"Hi Emily." He seemed a bit shyer today than normal. That was to be expected though.  
  
"Evening Remus. So what is it today?" She asked in continuation of their now normal routine.  
  
"Lamb chops. And lemon tart for dessert." He answered  
  
"No chocolate?" She asked, not hiding the fact that she was a bit disappointed.  
  
"Nope, sorry." He said wearing a hint of a smile. Her love of chocolate always seemed to amuse him for some reason.  
  
She heaved a sigh and gratefully took the chocolate less plate he handed to her.  
  
"I can't stay long tonight. We've got final exams tomorrow." He said taking his usual chair next to her bed.  
  
"I understand." She said.

Though she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit disappointed. After all, she'd spent the last several minuets drawing up quaint, romantic scenarios, all taking place over this particular dinner break.  
  
"Besides it's probably best I don't spend too much time up here." He said suddenly standing up from his chair.  
  
"Why not?" Emily was taken a back. Half an hour ago he was madly in love with her. A person can't possibly have a change of heart in 30 minuets. (Then again she would never have thought that it was possible for a person to fall in love in two weeks at the age of 16 either.)  
  
"Well, you know the others are starting to talk..." He made a very daring attempt to laugh this piece of information off, but failed.  
  
"So? Who cares what they think?" Emily sat up on her bed and gave a defiant pout.  
  
She had just found the love of her life, and damned if Sirius Black, or James Potter, or even Peter Petigrew for that matter, was going to mess it up for her.  
  
"I do." He answered in the boldest tone she had ever heard him use with her. "They're the only friend's I've got."  
  
Loyalty. Chivilrous trait. However, it wasn't doing him any good in this case, and she could tell.  
  
"Remus, if they're half as loyal as you are, I highly doubt that they'd abandon you simply because of me."  
  
Emily reasoned. She could tell by looking at him that he was more relaxed about the subject then he had been. She wondered, if this was a good time to, tactfully of course, bring up the romance issue. She'd give it a shot she decided.  
  
"Besides, even if there was something going on...which there's not." She added, remembering once again that she "hadn't seen the letter".  
  
" It wouldn't be any of their business. Would it?" She stood up and walked closer to the spot where Remus was standing.  
  
He became rather visibly flustered as she did this, but made a very bold attempt to hide it.  
  
" I guess it wouldn't" He answered straightening himself up and trying very hard not to look at the floor.  
  
"No. It wouldn't." She said definitely, as she took a small step closer to him.  
  
"Honestly, Remus. I know they're your mates and all, but you can't answer to them your entire life." She took a larger step closer.  
  
Even _she_ wasn't entirely sure of what she was planning to do.  
  
In fact, this was beginning to remind her of that horrid Sirius Black episode two weeks ago. The one she was glad that Remus hadn't witnessed.  
  
"Then who would I have to answer to?" He asked rather quietly as he swallowed.  
  
Feeling rather rebellious, and with full knowledge that this went against most of the chivalrous principals which she so avidly preached,( A lady is never supposed to make the first move), she took one last step towards him.  
  
"Well..." She was never able to finish that sentence. At that precise moment the door swung open.  
  
"Hey Romeo, We're waiting."  
  
Sirius Black. Impeccable timing as ever. (By her mother's standards he would never make it as an actor. Although he did have the looks...)  
  
"Tell them I'll be there in a minuet Padfoot." Remus answered not taking his eyes off Emily.  
  
"Oh I'm not sure I should trust you moony. I mean after our little...discussion today, who knows what you might do."  
  
Remus looked threateningly at Sirius and shook his head slightly. He was obviously afraid that Sirius would let something slip about the letter he had written to her. (the one she didn't know about).  
  
"Tell me," Emily said rounding on Sirius and sounding, to put it mildly, rather agitated.  
  
"Has your mind always been buried so deeply in the gutter or is this a recent development?" Of course, she finished this off with another one of her flourishing death glares.  
  
"Only since I met you love." Sirius answered with a cheeky grin.  
  
Emily gave Sirius a shocked and rather venomous look as she sulkily turned away from him so that neither he nor Remus would see the slight blush in her cheeks.  
  
"Sirius, please." Remus said rather firmly. (And with a hint of jelousy.)  
  
"OK, OK." Sirius started to head to the door, before turning around and adding.  
  
"But we're not waiting much longer. So whatever you're...er... planning to do, moony, bettered make it quick." With one last signature wink at Remus, Sirius left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
  
Emily felt an urge to throw another one of her shoes at the door while Sirius was closing it. Instead she settled for a small frustrated "ugh".  
  
"Has he always been that...cheeky?" She asked Remus, still in a quite vindictive mood.  
  
"Really, he's not as bad as he seems." Remus said placently.  
  
"Sure he sometimes acts like an idiot around girls, but once you get to know him..." He trailed off, realizing that once again Emily was mere inches from him. In almost the exact same spot she had been before the rather unfortunate interruption.  
  
"Well. I'm still glad that you're not at all like him." She said quietly.  
  
Once again, not entirely sure of what she was doing, she raised herself on her toes and placed a light kiss on his cheek.  
  
"Good night Remus." She said, beginning to move back to her bed.  
  
He simply stared at her for a moment. His hand was touching the place where she had kissed him as if not daring to believe what had happened.  
  
"Right. Good Night Emily." He began to back out towards the door, though he did not take his eyes off her, or remove his hand from his cheek. She could not suppress a giggle as she watched him stumble on a drawer as he walked backwards into the door frame.  
  
"I...uh...might not be up here before bed tonight. After all the meeting-"

He stopped suddenly looking furious with himself.  
  
"I mean...er... studying could take a while." He corrected slowly.  
  
A meeting was it? This was interesting. It meant that whatever it was that he was hiding from her, the others were in on it.  
  
"So I'll... uh...see you in the morning." He said finally beginning to close the door behind him.  
  
"See you in the morning Remus."  
  
He smiled broadly at her before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.  
  
So, at this very moment her four protectorates were having a secret meeting. About what she wondered. It was barely a moment before she recognized, rightly, that wondering was getting her nowhere.  
  
James had not bothered to come up and fetch his cloak after dinner. It was still lying on the end of his bed, where Emily had placed it safely before dinner.  
  
So doing what any self-respecting, Nobel, young heroine would do. She slipped the cloak over her head, opened the door, and made her way down stairs,  
  
Finally she caught up with Remus who was half way into the common room. It was mostly empty save for a few people studying at the tables or in the arm chairs by the fireside.  
  
Remus walked past all of them and headed toward a small table in the far right corner where Peter, Sirius, and James were already seated.  
  
"Finally." James whispered feircly as Remus sat down.  
  
"What were you doing up there?" Peter asked eagerly.  
  
"Do you even have to ask?" Sirius said with a grin as he nudged Remus in the ribs.  
  
Emily blushed again, but was far too interested in why they were all meeting in a darkened corner to feel too embarrassed.  
  
"Right." Remus said definitely, ignoring Sirius and James's smirks. "Are we ready?"  
  
"Now we are." James said, the slightest ebb of impatience in his voice.  
  
"The ..." James stopped confussed for a minuet.  
  
"Sirius what number are we on?" He turned to Sirius.  
  
"What?" Sirius said putting his feet up on the table. "You expect _me _to keep track?" James waved an impatient hand.  
  
"Oh well, the number...something...monthly meeting of the maurader's has officially come to order."

_If you have reviewed, review again. And if you haven't reviewed review. If you never reveiw... Listen for your door bell to ring brining terrible, terrible, news when you least expect it._


	14. The Mauraders

_A/N: Sorry that took a while. But hopefully this next installment will meet and exceed your expectations, and you will review accordingly. If you do not I shall cry, and the sight of me crying is not exactly pretty. So bearing all this in mind..._  
  
Chapter 14: The Mauraders  
  
The Marauders? Emily had a sinking suspicion that this had something to do with those nick names they used for each other. She couldn't count the number of times she'd asked about them and had never gotten a straight answer. It was always: "It's a long story".  
  
Honestly could a girl find out anything with out having to eavesdrop?  
  
(Not that she minded to tell the truth. Her uncle wouldn't be pleased about it, which was always a good thing).  
  
"First topic of discussion," James said with mock seriousness  
  
"And the entire reason we can't meet in the dormitory." Sirius said with an odd look at Remus, who obviously felt the need to defend himself.  
  
"It's not her fault!" he said "And we could have met up there if we'd told her the truth from the beginning."  
  
"Oh, please moony, just because you've fallen head over heels for her doesn't give her the right to know everything." Sirius said quite sullenly.  
  
"That isn't the point." James whispered frantically, clearly hoping to avoid the issue of telling Emily the truth whatever it was. Apparently Remus was not the only one that felt a certain moral ambiguity about hiding things from her.  
  
"The point is how are we supposed to get her out of there?" James, Peter, and Remus all looked at each other hoping for some sort of answer.  
  
Well! Emily thought indignantly. It was certainly nice to know that they were all so eager to be rid of her.

Though to tell the truth, she was not all that eager to leave. In fact she might just down right refuse and stay in the dormitory her entire life. What was stopping her?  
  
(Aside from the obvious obstacles of clothing, food, and the fact that the school would be empty in a month due to summer holiday. But she could work around all that...)  
  
Sirius leaned back on his chair not looking in the least bit worried.  
  
"Well, it's obvious isn't it? There's a hogsmead visit this weekend." The others looked at him intently.  
  
She could tell that two of them knew what he was suggesting and were quite hesitant about it. Peter though, apparently hadn't caught on, "And...?" He asked bewildered.  
  
"And..." Sirius answered with impatient ebb to his voice "We throw the invisibility cloak over her and send her back to the woods where we found her."  
  
Whatever strange and oddly endearing feelings Emily had harbored for Sirius Black vanished at that moment and were replaced by nothing but the up most contempt.  
  
Not for the first time since she'd been there she was forced to listen to them talk about her as if she were some stray animal they had picked up off the side of the road.  
  
"Just like that?" Remus asked alarmed.  
  
"Have you got a better solution?" Sirus asked sharply.  
  
"We can't just drop her out into the forest on her own! She's not an animal!"

Once again Remus Lupin had the courtesy to voice exactly what Emily was thinking.  
  
"Besides it's far too soon." He added as an after note.  
  
"Well we'd bettered make a decision quick!" Peter quipped. "We need to get onto the important stuff. Personally, I agree with Sirius. I mean She can't stay here much longer can she?"  
  
"Well...no." Remus conceded quietly, but then he opened his mouth again for one last stab at a defense. "But we should...wait. I mean her legs not completely healed yet..." He added quite lamely.  
  
She could tell that he was searching desperately for any reason that would allow her to stay. How romantic!  
  
"Oh come on moony! Both you and I know there's nothing wrong with her leg." Sirius said quite bitterly, now fighting to keep his voice down.  
  
"Even _I _don't know what you're talking about padfoot. Her leg was broken when we brought her here." James said bewildered.  
  
"Oh, you didn't see her up there just now, prongs. She looked perfectly fine to me." He said the last bit sharply to Remus.  
  
"Yes...but...but she only took a few steps up there." Remus said once again unconvincingly.  
  
"Look, moony." James began. "I know you like her and all, but Sirius's right. She can't stay here her whole life. I mean what happens when summer comes? Are you going to find away of staying alone with her, here for three months?" James said this with a cynical laugh.  
  
Remus's expression was now one of almost blissful thought. Emily could tell that that idea of spending three months alone with her was not exactly unappealing to him. Not that she would be complaining either...  
  
"Don't answer that." Sirius said suddenly correctly interpreting his friend's expression.  
  
"Besides sooner or later someone's bound to find out about her." James continued.  
  
"Yeah. We can't make up a story big enough to cover this up." Peter reasoned.  
  
It finally seemed to become clear to Remus that he was fighting a losing battle.  
  
"So that's it? We just leave her there on her own?" He asked the others quietly. Sirius was the only one who didn't look at least slightly sympathetic.  
  
"Well, she's far from defenseless." Sirius said with a slight laugh that sounded more like a bark.  
  
He apparently still didn't grasp the meaning of chivalry. It didn't matter if she could take care of herself, it was basic principle: a lady is never meant to be stranded with out an escort.  
  
"How do you know that?" Remus asked sharply once again.  
  
"Well she's got two of us under her thumb hasn't she? It's gotten to the point where wormtail and I are the only sane one's left." Sirius said with a now strangely sullen look at James.  
  
Peter seemed to sell with pride.  
  
"What do you mean?" James said suddenly defensively.  
  
"Don't pretend like we haven't noticed prongs. Your whole attitude's changed since she's been here." Sirius answered.  
  
Emily knew that by we Sirius was referring only to himself, because the other two looked slightly bewildered as their eyes wandered back and forth from Sirius to James.  
  
"What are you talking about?" James was failing miserably at being non- chalant about this particular topic.  
  
"I'm_ talking_ about how you've suddenly taken to going straight up to the dorm room every night. Not to mention the Evans thing..." Sirius trailed off.  
  
"What Evans thing?" James demanded, his ears turning slightly pink.  
  
"The following Evans around like some love sick puppy dog thing." Sirius answered.  
  
"We know you've always fancied her, but now it's getting ridiculous! You're positively drooling all over her! And I know that Gardner's got something to do with it."  
  
"Oh don't be absurd! James Potter does not _drool_ over any one." James said, his face now entirely scarlet.  
  
"God I wish you could see yourself!" Sirius said with the slightest hint of a laugh.  
  
"Look it doesn't matter!" Remus said quickly.  
  
"It matters more than you think it does." Sirius said in a now significant whisper.  
  
"I read the rest of the letter moony. You were two steps away from admitting to the girl that you're a werewolf!"  
  
What? What was he talking about?  
  
Surely it was a metaphor of some kind, and not a very good one at that. Emily had never in her life met any one less wolfish than Remus Lupin. The idea was absolutely laughable!  
  
"Would you keep your voice down?" Remus implored with a quick check behind him.  
  
Wait... if it was a metaphor then why was he acting so jumpy about it? It...it couldn't be true. Could it?  
  
"Besides, it's not as if she was ever going to read it."  
  
Werewolves were not real. Were they?  
  
"Oh, no. It's much better to have Snape find it for her..." Sirius said sarcastically.  
  
Then again, this world was very different from the world she knew. But still, Remus?  
  
"He's been particularly interested in where you go to once a month, I hope you've noticed." Sirius continued.  
  
Once a month. The full moon came once a month. But that meant...  
  
"And since you seem to be so keen on telling _the truth_, to every one who wants to know..." Sirius trailed off almost threateningly.  
  
"You wouldn't dare!" Remus whispered frantically, his eyes wide.  
  
It was true!  
  
"Oh wouldn't I?" Sirius whispered with a triumphant smirk.  
  
She had fallen in love with a werewolf!  
  
Emily gasped aloud, but quickly covered her hand with her mouth. The four boys turned around. After a rather tense moment all of them seemed to agree that the muffled sound had been nothing.  
  
"Listen." James said finally. "We can't argue about this all night. The full moon's tomorrow and we haven't even got the map out yet. If we don't start looking at it we won't have a clue as to what we're..."  
  
"Oh no!" Remus exclaimed.  
  
"Don't tell me. You forgot the map." Sirius said with a weary eye roll.  
  
"I must've left it in my bag upstairs." Remus said beginning to get up from the table.  
  
Emily began to walk towards the stair well in order to get back before Remus, when she heard Sirius Black say,  
  
"No. I'll get it. If you go we won't be able to expect you down until morning."  
  
Perfect, Emily thought frantically as she nearly ran up the stairs. She was once again about to find herself alone in the dorm room with Sirius Black.  
  
As she threw open the door and closed it once again quietly behind her, and idea struck her.  
  
She took off the invisibility cloak, laid it on her bed and then climbed under the covers.  
  
After all, that rather awkward situation with Sirius had taken place while she was a wake. Surely she couldn't do anything to subconsciously embarrass herself while she was "asleep".  
  
So as she heard his footsteps come closer to the door, She turned on her side facing the door so that he would be sure to see her. (Another thing about acting her mother had taught her: play to your audience.) and quickly closed her eyes a second before Sirius came in.  
  
She heard his footsteps stop for a moment before walking briskly to the side of her bed where Remus had left his bag.  
  
"Oh, yes. You look so _innocent_ lying there don't you?" Sirius muttered, clearly under the impression that she couldn't hear him.

Bastard.  
  
She could hear him rummaging through the bag looking for the map...whatever that was.  
  
"But don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, 'cause I'm watching you every second I can." He muttered again once she'd heard that he had retrieved something from the bag.  
  
Emily stifled a snigger. Considering that he hadn't even caught on to the fact that she had been following the four of them in James's invisibility cloak, he was obviously not as observant as he liked to believe.  
  
"In fact, I'll bet you're not even asleep."  
  
Damn. Why did he have to do that? Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. Her eyes stayed resolutely tight and she lay almost as still as if she were dead.  
  
"Well, maybe not." He concluded.

Ha! Once again she'd proved herself a better actress than most of those idiots back home thought her to be.  
  
"But that doesn't mean that there's nothing calculating going on in that sweet little head of yours." He said maliciously.  
  
"You're probably dreaming of turning us all into, perfect, gentlemanly, robots. Well I've got news for you. It's not going to work."  
  
She turned "in her sleep" to keep Sirius from seeing the smile that appeared on her lips. He was afraid of her! Underneath all that cool, charming, arrogant, exterior, lay the heart of someone who was just as insecure as anyone else. It was sort of...sweet, to tell the truth.  
  
(Okay maybe not quite. He was still arrogant after all...)  
  
She heard him take a couple hesitant steps backward, when she turned. But when she lay still again, she could hear his shoe's coming closer to the bed.  
  
"Still," He said after a second. "I can see what Remus meant. You are quite attractive..."  
  
She tried very hard to remind herself to breath as she felt him lean over her and touch her cheek.  
  
Just as he removed his hand from her cheek, she heard the door open.  
  
"Padfoot..." Remus's voice began, but stopped very suddenly.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked in a very fierce whisper.  
  
She heard Sirius move very quickly away from her bed.  
  
"I...er...got the map." Sirius said sounding uncharacteristically flustered.  
  
"You'll wake her up." Remus said coolly. His voice was nearing the spot that Sirius had just left. His hands reached her covers, straightening them unnecessarily.  
  
Then, apparently losing all the nervous energy that he displayed around her when she was awake, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.  
  
It was almost as if he were marking her as his. He was proving to Sirius that she was off limits. Emily wondered vaguely if this was a werewolf thing...  
  
" Come on then." Sirius said, sounding slightly ashamed as his footsteps sounded towards the door.  
  
"Good night Emily." Remus whispered, before following Sirius and closing the door behind him.  
  
Emily briefly considered following them.

She still didn't know everything.  
  
But as she lay in bed, she had decided that she had learned quite enough for one night.  
  
Even an actress could only take so much confusion. And everything she had just witnessed, certainly made for plenty of it.

_Once again your reviews are very, very,very much appreciated! (I once again beg you to consider weather or not your eyes are strong enough to stand the sight of me crying...)_


	15. The Expectations of Involvment

_Yay! Reviews make me happy! I do, do, do, apriciate you, I promise! _

_Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter up quicker. I'm having a bit of writers block... nothing to be too worried about though, I hope._

**Chapter 15: The Expectations of Involvment  
**  
The next day, Emily stumbled slightly as she followed the boys to their potions class. However, regarding the predicament she currently found herself in, this was to be expected.  
  
She was currently in love with a werewolf who, no doubt, was the cause of her "accident" in the woods. However, for some reason, this brought her more excitement than fear.  
  
After all, falling in love with the one who attempted to destroy you was one of the oldest complications in the history of story telling (beauty and the beast was a good example). This only helped to further, what she had titled, the "novelesque" pattern of her current predicament.  
  
Besides, she knew from the old tales her father used to tell her, being a werewolf was far from a choice. It was more like a disease. So, whatever Remus had done in his werewolf form was, truly, not his fault.  
  
Emily would have been content with this knowledge if it were not for one other problem: falling in love with the beast who, only two weeks ago, had made an attempt on her life was not the only complication that Emily was faced with. To top it off, there was the Sirius matter. (Really, it was so like him to come along and complicate things that were already quite complicated enough.)  
  
Emily had known for quite some time that aside from his arrogant, cocky, and sarcastic manner, she had always had an odd and, in her mind, somewhat sick physical attraction to Sirius. After the occurrence of the previous night, it had become clear that Sirius reciprocated these strange...feelings. (Emily supposed that was what she would call them if she were to give them a proper name).  
  
Not to mention, he had proved that he may not have been a completely one dimensional prat that she had once thought him to be. Indeed, he seemed almost to have a ...soft side to him.  
  
And of course there were more than fairy tale complications that came along with this knowledge. The romance issue was no longer quite so cut and dry. No, it had now become more of a choice...  
  
But of course in the end, she would choose Remus.  
  
Wouldn't she?  
  
Needless to say, taking all this into consideration made for an entirely sleepless night. And, even by the afternoon, she found that she could not entirely focus on the task of watching James and Lilly.  
  
She kept stealing worried glances at Remus, who was looking quite pale and peaky. She had remembered that the full moon was to come that night of course. That, no doubt, had something to do with it.  
  
(She also caught herself, every so often, starring adoringly at Sirius Black. However, she tried not to dwell on that.)  
  
Apparently, she was not the only one particularly interested in Remus's current heath condition. James, Peter and Sirius all seemed to be keeping a keen watch on him as well. They had a habit of shooting each other significant looks every now and then, as if they were sending coded messages.  
  
But more importantly, Severus Snape had taken to using any excuse to catch glimpses of what Remus was up to. She had seen him, more than once, trying to glance at the calendar that Remus wrote down all of his class work in, apparently in hopes of catching him in the process of writing something that could possibly get him into trouble.  
  
Luckily, she was not the only one who noticed this.  
  
"You don't think he suspects something do you?" Remus whispered to the other three as they packed up their potions materials and headed outside before dinner.  
  
"You mean _Snivelus_?" James asked with an ugly sneer on his face.  
  
"That stupid git wouldn't know a werewolf from a krup. He's just trying desperately to find something that'll get us expelled." James said rather unconcernedly  
  
"I still don't like it." Remus said cautiously.  
  
"Look, Remus, even if he _does_ suspect something, he can't tell Dumbledore anything about you that he already doesn't know." Sirius said reassuringly flopping himself and his bag down underneath a tree.  
  
"It's not me, I'm worried about." Remus said setting his own bag down on the grassy hill.  
  
"Aww...how cute! Moony's worried we can't look after ourselves." James sniggered.  
  
"I didn't mean that. I know _you_ can." Remus said, his lips curving into a small smile.  
  
"I'm talking about...someone else." The low, significant sound of his voice told her that he was talking about her.  
  
"Emily?" Sirius asked.

Emily's stomach performed several cartwheels. He had never used her first name before.  
  
Remus must've noticed too because his face suddenly darkened into a vaguely jelous expression. Apparently he was still remembering the scene he had walked in on the night before.  
  
"Yes Emily." He snapped at Sirius, who looked only slightly taken back.  
  
"I don't think you've got to worry about her. Not even Dumbledore himself could guess that we were keeping a muggle in the dormitory." James spoke in an almost soothing voice to Remus whose expression cleared a bit.  
  
Then, suddenly, he put his hand to his stomach and let out a grunt of pain.  
  
Emily had a maternal urge to rush over to him, but caught herself. Instead she was forced to remain helpless in her spot by the tree as more color drained out of his face. "It's not time yet is it?" Peter asked anxiously.  
  
"Not for another couple of hours, it's only five o'clock," Remus answered breathlessly, now clutching his side with a grimace.  
  
"Still," He continued, trying his best to ignore the brief moments of pain.

"Padfoot, you said it last night. He's become more and more interested in what we're up to lately."  
  
"That is true." Sirius mused. "And he _did_ see the letter..."  
  
"Think we should teach him a thing or two about meddling in other people's business?" Asked James with an evil smirk as his hand instinctively landed over his wand.  
  
Not again. As much as she had begun to detest Severus Snape, she never particularly enjoyed watching him tortured by James and Sirius. It simply didn't sit right with the guiding rules of chivalry. (Not to mention that Lilly shared the same opinion as Emily on this particular point. And James wasn't doing himself any favors by continuing to "teach" Snape.)  
  
Emily made to step on his foot in order to remind him of his duties when Sirius said, "Nah. Not this time prongs."  
  
Emily's jaw dropped open. Never, in the two weeks she had known him, had Sirius ever passed up the chance to torture Severus Snape. (Indeed, it was like a sick sort of hobby to him.)  
  
"Our _lessons_, well intentioned as they are, never seem to have an impact on him do they?" He continued thoughtfully.  
  
"That's not really the point padfoot." James said with a curious look at Sirius, as though highly doubting his sanity.  
  
"Isn't it?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Let's say that this time, we give him a lesson he'll _always _remember." Sirius was now grinning at the rest of them, a mischievous glint played in his eyes. Emily knew this look well enough to know, that it usually meant nothing good.  
  
Peter looked eager, but Remus shook his head.  
  
"Look, don't go and do anything stupid. If Snape finds out we'll already be in enough trouble as it is." He let out a small grunt of pain once again but seemed to push it aside.  
  
"Oh, where's your sense of adventure moony? Besides it's the greasy prat's own fault...sneaking around trying to find out what were up to. If he wants to know so badly..." Sirius trailed off, the wicked glint remaining firmly in his eyes.  
  
He wasn't actually going to tell him. Was he?  
  
"Sirius you wouldn't actually tell him would you?" Remus asked frantically. Not for the first time, Emily felt as though they were thinking along the same wave length.  
  
"Oh, I don't think I actually have to tell him, do I? If I just let slip how he can get past the whomping willow..."  
  
"Sirius please! Do you have any idea what could happen if you did that?"  
  
"Well, it's not as if any one'd miss him-"  
  
"Sirius." James spoke up rather quietly. "He's right. You couldn't do that."  
  
Sirius's face fell for a second.  
  
"Alright then, I won't." Sirius said with a small pout. "Not that the slime ball wouldn't deserve it...  
  
"Padfoot, promise!" Remus implored urgently.  
  
"Fine. I promise." Sirius answered.  
  
But the mischievous glint had returned to his eye, and Emily was sure she saw him throw a wink to Peter who gave him a knowing smile.  
  
This meant only one thing; he did not intend at all to keep that promise.  
  
The idiot was actually going to let Snape "find out" about Remus. And, if she hadn't misunderstood, Sirius actually seemed to be hoping that Snape would get himself killed in the process!  
  
"Ugh." Remus doubled over in pain once more.  
  
Emily had to do something about this. After all she was involved now.  
  
"Remus mate," James began hesitantly. "Maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey a bit early."  
  
And a proper heroine never allows any one to come to harm when she could have prevented it. Even her one of her enemies.  
  
Remus nodded slowly clutching his stomach. The others looked at him with worried expressions.  
  
"I have to get Emily's dinner first, then I'll go." With the help of James and Sirius, Remus slowly raised himself from his spot on the grass and grabbed his bag.  
  
"See you tonight." He said quietly, once again clutching his side as he headed in.  
  
As he turned right towards the great hall Emily turned left and began the long climb to Griffendor tower.  
  
She didn't have long before sunset. That was, no doubt when Sirius would unleash his oh- so_ brilliant_ prank. Emily had to find a way to thwart him before then.  
  
If there was one thing that was always certain above all else, it was that a heroine never has enough time...

_Again, review and I love you forever and ever. Don't review and the angels will weep for you!_


	16. The Difficulties of Involvment

_Love you for reviewing! I'm trying to get the rest of this up before school starts, because then I won't have any time. So, chapters will be comming much quicker now._

_p.s thanks for the advice on writers block. It DID help!_

Chapter 16: The difficulties of involvement  
  
Pacing, Emily decided, was a complete waste of time. The most it did was provide the appearance of actually doing something productive while one was trying to think of something productive to do. And despite all her best efforts she couldn't seem to stop.  
  
No matter how many times she walked around the same spot on the floor in front of her bed, the situation she found herself in was a dreary one.  
  
Why had no one ever told her that single handedly returning chivalry to its rightful place in society would come with so many complications?  
  
Needless to say, when Remus knocked on the door, it was with a disheartened voice that Emily answered him,  
  
"Come in."  
  
He entered, obviously bearing his own burden. He attempted to smile at her as usual but his eyes seemed dazed.  
  
"Hi Emily."  
  
After he said this he looked away from her rather quickly, as if he did not trust himself to completely meet her eyes. She registered that he had been acting strangely around her all day. Every time he stole the smallest glance in her direction, he looked away again as if he had committed some great sin.  
  
"I'm afraid I won't be up tonight." He said as moved past her to place her plate on the nightstand. "And, don't be too worried if you don't hear the others come in before you go to bed."  
  
"Why not?" She asked with genuine curiosity. She knew that the full moon would take Remus for the night, but why should it affect the others?  
  
"We've got our last exam tomorrow. Studying should keep us up." He said unconvincingly.  
  
"Oh." She said, hoping it sounded light and unconcerned.  
  
Suddenly Remus let out a now familiar grunt and clutched his stomach, doubling over in pain.  
  
"Are you all right?" She asked quickly. She rushed over to him, glad that the cloak did at last not constrict her.  
  
He nodded, but continued breathing heavily as he put his hand on her shoulder to steady himself. When the pain apparently subsided he straightened up again and took his hand away from her, almost as though ashamed of himself.  
  
"Thank you." He said quietly, still refusing to look at her, before moving to the door. She followed him. He wasn't going to get away without saying good night. Though it became clear that he was going to try. Well then, she would just have to remind him.  
  
"Good night Remus." She said, stopping him by placing her hand lightly on his back, just as he was about to leave.  
  
He turned around quickly to look her fully in the eyes for the first time that night. His own eyes were still dazed and confused, but there was something else there too. Something like a strange hunger seemed to linger behind them when he looked at her. The look sent an odd shiver down her spine.  
  
"Good night Emily." He said quietly. He slowly reached down, took her hand in his, and kissed it. He did this with a sense of chaste reverence, but Emily noticed that the same sort of hunger she had seen in his eyes seemed to linger in the kiss he had placed on her hand.  
  
Remus must have noticed this too. He quickly let go of her hand and almost apologetically shifted his gaze downward before walking swiftly out of the room.  
  
This did nothing to calm her confusion. Nor did it do much to help her situation besides enforcing the fact that she was involved in more ways than one. After all, if Sirius's plan succeeded as he hoped it would, then Remus would be responsible for the death of another student. She was sure he would be expelled for that, even if it wasn't his fault. She couldn't possibly let that happen. But that brought her thoughts back around to where she had started. How on earth was she going to stop Sirius from telling?  
  
Before long she realized that staring at the doorway where Remus had left was getting her nowhere. With her hand still trembling from his kiss, she closed the door and began the useless occupation of pacing once again.  
  
In fact she was so caught up in the process of pacing that she did not hear the door click open once again.  
  
"Well, I see your leg is better." Sirius's sudden voice not only made her jump, but also caused her to, reactively, do something that she otherwise would never, ever, in a million years have done.  
  
"Sirius, You can't do it!"  
  
Surprising even herself, she'd said the first thing that came to her head.  
  
"Can't do what?" Sirius asked apparently bewildered. Yet somehow he managed to make even this harmless question sound quite suggestive...Emily reprimanded herself very quickly.  
  
She would have to explain everything to him, there was no backing out of it now. Why on earth had she taken the direct approach?  
  
"You can't tell Snape about Remus, or how to get past the weeping willow, or whooping willow, or whatever the damn thing is called." As she had spoken all of this very quickly, Emily saw fit to take this small interval to breath.  
  
"Wait...how did you know about that?" Sirius asked looking fixedly at her with those brilliant, penetrating eyes...Oh, sod it! Why did he have to do this to her?  
  
"Never mind that!" She said. Emily really did not want to have to explain herself, even if she knew it was inevitable. She had very little time.  
  
"The point is..." But she stopped speaking when she noticed that Sirius wasn't paying a bit of attention. Instead he was starring at the invisibility cloak and she could tell that he was putting the whole thing together in his mind.  
  
Suddenly he let out a low cynical laugh, that reminded her all too much of a bark.  
  
"I should've known that we couldn't leave you alone with the cloak. See, I was right, you're not nearly as innocent as you make out to be." He said picking the cloak up from the bed and gracefully slinging it over his arm.  
  
Emily did her best to ignore the slight on her innocence and continued with her already carefully planned speech.  
  
"...The point is, this whole thing will result in nothing but chaos." she continued.  
  
"Which is exactly why I'm doing it!" Sirius said cheerfully, beginning to search around the drawers, apparently looking for something. Emily ignored him and kept on with her speech."  
  
"First of all, if you end up going through with this you'll land Remus in trouble, not to mention yourself and James and Peter..."  
  
"Oh no I won't." Sirius interrupted. "If it works out right no one will be able to tie any of us back to what happened. And besides the headmaster knows that Remus can't help himself when he transforms. Everyone will think it was some freak accident."  
  
That was his problem. He was so arrogant that he thought somehow he was going to get away with everything he did. It was going to catch up with him one of these days. She was sure of it. For now, she continued as if he had not spoken.  
  
"Second it's simply morally unethical. No matter how much you dislike him, you can't cause someone's death with out paying some sort of price!"  
  
"You want to talk about unethical?" Sirius interrupted once again. "How about when Snape hexes the Gryfendor first years with their backs turned? Or how he'd sooner see all of us dead or expelled before graduation? What I'm doing's self-defense. Getting to him before he gets to me."  
  
How Sirius Black, who cursed Snape to oblivion nearly twice a week for no reason at all could talk about self defense was far beyond Emily's comprehension. But it was becoming apparent that Sirius simply wouldn't listen to reason. All right then, she would have to do this the hard way.  
  
"And thirdly..." She continued rather slowly this time.  
  
"Is that a word?" Sirius asked stifiling a snigger.  
  
To be honest Emily wasn't certain if thirdly _was _a word. But she wasn't going to let him know that.  
  
"Thirdly." She continued defiantly. "I'll...I'll go to the head master and tell him the whole story, if you go through with it." This was the largest threat she could think of, and she could tell that it had worked.  
  
"You wouldn't do that." Sirius said warily, though with out real conviction.  
  
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Emily said in a dignified tone. "And what's more, I wouldn't even hesitate. You would deserve every bit of what you got." She smirked as she could see him searching his brain for a way out of the situation.  
  
"No, I know you wouldn't do that." He said in a stronger voice this time. Emily could tell that some type of plan was forming in his head. Whatever it was she didn't like it.  
  
He took one step towards her.  
  
"Oh real-really?" Emily stumbled over her words as she took a step back  
  
"Yeah." Sirius answered and he took another step towards her. Emily took another step back wards, realizing that if they continued to do this they would both eventually run into the bed. The thought made her blush. Sirius smirked when he saw the color in her cheeks  
  
"I know you Emily." Her stomach did several more back flips at the mention of her name. "You're too loyal to go running off to a teacher. No matter what you say." Sirius was grinning in his seductive way as he took another step.  
  
"I-I am?" She asked taking her last step backwards. Inevitably, she ran into the end of Remus's bed. She put her hand on the mattress to steady herself as Sirius took one more step towards her.  
  
"Yes you are." Sirius whispered, now merely inches away. "Especially after this." Before Emily could say anything to retort, Sirius leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth.  
  
She had barely enough time to register what had happened before she realized, to her utter horror, that she was kissing him back. Was her subconscious really that attracted to him?  
  
Emily had just decided that the question of her subconscious no longer seemed all that important when he slowly pulled away from her.  
  
She didn't want him to. Did she?  
  
"I thought so." He said  
  
What in the world did that mean?  
  
"Now, If you'll excuse me." He pulled himself away from the bed and walked over to his nightstand. After picking up a very old looking piece of parchment, he began to leave the room, but not before looking back to grin at Emily who was now starring wide eyed at him.  
  
"'Night love." He said as he backed into the door frame. Emily opened her mouth to answer but found that words failed her, as she watched him give one last snigger before walking out the door...  
  
What was that?  
  
Emily sat on the end of the bed, attempting to process what had just happened.  
  
Sirius Black had kissed her. That was certain. Why? This was also fairly easy to answer, he'd done it out of desperation. He apparently thought that by kissing her he would distract her from her mission of trying to stop him telling Snape about Remus. She was ashamed to admit that he was, thus far, succeeding.  
  
What in the world was wrong with her? Why did this have to happen now? She had been so certain of what was supposed to happen according to the "novelesque" pattern of her predicament, now Sirius Black had to come along and complicate matters again. Now she wasn't sure of anything.  
  
Or was she? Emily quickly forced her mind back to the actual kiss. It had been her first true kiss. That was supposed to mean something wasn't it?  
  
She had always imagined that when she recived her first real kiss, something like fire works would explode inside her. That trumpets would sound and her heart would quicken to two or three times it's normal rate. And most important of all, that there would be a moment, one moment, when the rest of the world would fade away completely and she would feel as though it were just the two of them, standing there, in perfect harmony.  
  
Yet looking back on the kiss with Sirius, none of what she had expected happened at all.  
  
Of course she had been shocked when he first kissed her, and the kiss did bring about all the normal physical reactions. But she could recall no fire works and no trumpets. Afterward, she could almost remember waiting for that one moment to come, but it never did.  
  
But that meant...perhaps the romance wasn't a choice at all. Perhaps she had always loved Remus and nothing Sirius did could change that.  
  
This revelation brought Emily to a new sense of purpose. She knew now what she had to do...

_Review and I predict that you will live long and prosper. Don't review and well...it's kinder if I don't say._


	17. Rule Number Three

_AN: I know, I know. I'm going to have to get these up faster if I want to get them done before school. This one is what I call an intermediary chapter...in other words a link between one big event and another so it was harder to write. The next one will be up quicker, promise!_

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**Chapter 17: Rule Number Three**

Getting out of the common room without the invisibility cloak, proved less complicated than she had expected. There were very few people back from dinner and the two or three that were there were bent so steadfastly over their piles of home work that they apparently didn't notice a strange girl in a catholic school uniform coming down the stairs from the boys dormitory and walk out through the portrait hole.

Getting through the castle though, proved more difficult.

Once outside the common room, she found herself receiving strange stares from a few of the older students passing in the corridors, and had to conceal herself when ever a teacher passed by. For, she had learned from her two weeks of following the marauders, the professors knew almost all of the students by sight. They would certainly notice a girl that they had never seen before, even if the other students didn't.

And on top of everything, she had absolutely no idea where she was going. Sirius had managed to distract her long enough that she had no hope of following him to meet the others and she didn't have a clue as to where they might be.

She was definitely running out of time now. The windows outside told her that she had a little less than an hour before sun set. Luckily, while wandering along one of the corridors she heard it:

"James Potter! Stop that this instant!"

The unmistakable voice of Lilly Evans told her that James, at least, was around the next corner. And as it just so happened that James was exactly the person she needed to see.

"What are you talking about Lilly? I'm not doing anything." James said in an innocent voice she knew too well. Whatever the idiot was doing this time, Emily was certain it was not something she would approve of.

Quickly, silently, she moved across the hall to hide behind the statue of a large winged horse. Here she could get a fairly clear view of what was going on.

Lilly Evans was standing across from James, Sirius, and Peter with her hands on her hips looking livid.

James was standing in front of her in what he apparently thought to be a charmingly innocent matter, with his hands behind his back, clearly attempting to hide something.

Behind him, Sirius and Peter were having trouble keeping straight faces.They kept stealing amused glances behind them where Severus Snape was crouched silently by the door that Emily recognized as the infirmary. He had his ears pressed to it as if hoping to hear what was happening inside. Meanwhile, he didn't seem to notice that his own hair was growing longer by the second. The hair that was once shoulder length was now falling to the middle of his back and was showing no signs of slowing down.

"Besides if you ask me it's a bit of an improvement..." James said beginning to smirk.

"It's not funny!" Lilly said. Even though Emily could tell that she was trying very hard not to smile.

"Fine, fine." James said sullenly. He pointed his wand at Snape's hair, which immediately returned to its normal length.

"Happy now?" But no sooner were these words out of James's mouth then there was a small flash of light and Snape's now shoulder length hair turned a blinding shade of neon green. Again, Snape didn't seem to be aware of what was going on, as he was now apparently attempting to follow the sound of footsteps along the wall of the hospital wing.

While Snape might not have noticed, Lilly did.

"Potter..." She said threateningly whipping out her own wand. "I'm warning you now, take that curse off of him."

"Wait a minuet!" James said backing up and looking wearily at Lilly's wand. "I really didn't do that!" He said frantically pointing at Snape's now light pink hair.

Lilly automatically lifted her wand to point behind James's shoulder at the other two boys. Peter was now openly laughing while Sirius wore his signature smirk with his wand pointed at the back of Snape's head.

"Couldn't resist." Sirius said still grinning as he flicked his wand and Snape's hair changed back to its normal color.

Lilly lowered her wand.

"Arrogant bastards the lot of you." She muttered frustrated as she turned and stalked away towards the statue that Emily was hiding behind.

Emily ducked behind, the large wing of the statue. As Lilly walked past she could be heard muttering to herself:

"...So stupid of me. Thinking he could change when I know he never will."

Emily could not have been happier to hear this. No matter how much she disapproved of James's conduct in this situation, she could not have asked for a more perfect set up for her plan.

Like clock work, (Emily was now certain some one in heaven loved her), James came rushing around the corner only a second later.

"Hey Lilly, wait!"

Emily took this opportunity to reach from behind the statue, grab his arm, and drag him back into the space behind the horse's wing.

"Emily?!" James nearly yelled in a state of surprise.

"Shh." Emily said frantically putting her finger to her lips.

"What are you doing?" James lowered his voice to a whisper.

"I could ask you the same question." Emily whispered in a harsh voice.

"You saw that?" James asked somewhat guiltily.

"Yeah, I did. Explain." Emily said coolly placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, It's not as if the prat didn't deserve it! If you'd seen the whole thing, you'd know that he followed Remus to the hospital wing, trying to see inside, wearing that stupid sneer on his face. The one that just spells out revenge. And Remus didn't even do anything to him! Someone had to teach him a lesson!" James spoke so passionately that Emily had to remind him to lower his voice again by pressing her finger to her lips.

"That doesn't matter!" Emily said as sternly as was possible under the circumstances.

"Have you remembered nothing of what I told you about chivalry?"

James looked guilty for a second before rising to defend himself.

"But I didn't break any of those rules did I?" He said in a defiant whisper.

"Number three." Was Emily's only needed response. Understanding laden with embarrassment suddenly lined James's face.

"I've never liked that one." James mumbled bitterly.

"You might not like it, but I warned you that it was essential." Emily said "Now, you've gone right back to where you were before I picked you up!" She nodded her head in the direction that Lilly had stalked away in.

"I guess your right," James heaved a small sigh. "Well, I suppose that's it then."

"What?" Emily wasn't quite certain she had heard him properly. He wasn't giving up was he? No he couldn't. Not after all he had been willing to do. The lessons, practically stalking her everyday, learning to call her by her first name, he wouldn't throw it all away now.

"I mean there's not much else to do is there? Besides there are plenty of other girls out there..." The idiot was throwing it all away. How could he do this to her? Just when she was banking on his newly (almost) acquired chivalry.

Well, there was only one thing to do. Take the direct approach.

"Well, there is one thing you could do..." Emily trailed off in what she hopped was a light voice (She did not want to be too direct after all).

"What is it?" James urgently, dropping his former non chalant appearance.

"Do you remember what Sirius said about...getting back at Snape?" Emily said now sounding just as eager as James. The sun was setting. They had very little time.

"Oh, yeah. But he wouldn't actually go through with it. I mean Sirius talks about that stuff all the time, but he's not stupid enough to..."

Emily cleared her throat and inclined he head to the other side of the statue where Sirius and Peter were engaging in a rather loud conversation.

Looking slightly bemused James walked over to the wing in order to hear more properly.

"...Honestly, it's not as if it's a great mystery where Remus goes every month is it?" Sirius asked Peter who paused for a while as Snape, who was crouched next to the window where Remus was walking with the nurse across the lawn, looked discreetly up towards Sirius obviously paying very close attention.

"No, no mystery at all!" Peter said quite loudly and pointedly in Snape's direction.

(He had obviously been thoroughly rehearsed by Sirius)

"Nope." Sirius had become extremely casual, apparently attempting to make up for Peter's overly enthusiastic performance.

"If any one really wanted to know what he was up to, all they'd have to do is prod the knot at the root of the whomping willow with a stick. But, of course, I bet every idiot in the school has worked that out by now..."

"Idiot." Emily distinctly heard James mutter.

"Well, you know what you have to do don't you?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"It doesn't look like there's anything I _can_ do, with out risking my kneck..." James had wheeled around to face Emily and stopped dead at the eager look on his face.

"Oh, no. No! I'm not risking my life by trying to stop that greasy git from following Remus!"

"James you're the only one who can! Do you have any idea what could happen if you don't?" Emily said exasperatedly.

All right so she hadn't been expecting him to jump _right_ into action. (It had become clear that he was, after all, no Lancelot.) But he had to have some amount of common decency.

"Look if Snape wants to go chasing after a werewolf that's not my problem. He can hurl himself into the lake and get smothered by the giant squid for all I care."

Apparently not. Well then, she would simply have to appeal to the more selfish aspects of his nature.

"It's not just Snape I'm talking about. After that disastrous scene out there, you're going to need something major to get back where you were with Lilly..."

This would work it had to... romance always worked. James paused for a moment in thought.

"Sorry, Emily, but this is where I draw the line." He said finally. "Not even the life of my own mother could make me chase after that git. I could get killed."

For heavan sake! And she thought the lessons in chivalry had made some amount of progress. Now she was simply going to have to move to her last resort.

"Well then," She said in feigned resignation. "I suppose I'll just be giving Lilly's diary back to her then..."

"What?" James whispered, wide eyed and suddenly fearful. The diary that Emily had told James to give back weeks ago, was still sitting at the end of Jamse's bed. While he claimed that he was simply waiting for the oprotune moment to give it back to her, Emily knew the real reason: The prospect of facing Lilly Evans scared him to death.

"She all ready _hates _me!"

"Yes." Emily said grimly. "And apparently you don't care enough to do anything about it. So we'll consider the diary a sort of surrender...I suppose she's won."

James stood with his mouth wide open gaping at her. Once again, it looked as if James would have liked nothing better than to hex her into next week.

"You evil little minx." He whispered fiercely. The sun was setting and Emily looked quickly through the gap in the horse's wing and saw that Snape had left the window and was now headed for the doors that led to the grounds. They had very little time now.

"James. Please." Emily said a note of desperation in her voice. James looked at her for a moment and then let out a breath of resignation.

"All right, I'll try." He said. Defeated.

Emily could not help but break into a smile at this. She felt as if she could kiss him.

Deciding that quite enough kissing had gone on for one day, she contented herself by saying simply:

"Hurry. You haven't got much time." James nodded, still looking hesitant as he began to move to the gap in the wing of the statue.

"You'd better appreciate this." He said warningly to Emily before sliding out to the other side of the statue.

With a small amount of hesitancy, Emily waited a few moments before following James out of the statue, and on to the ground where he had met up with Sirius and Peter.

She knew that she should have gone back up to the dormitory. After all, this brave and daring act she had convinced James to do would no doubt be very dangerous, and possibly life threatening. She would be safer back in her bed.

But she had never known a heroine to be asleep in bed while her novice went out and performed brave and daring acts. And _she_ was the heroine of this novelesque sinerio, weather James Potter liked it or not.

So, careful not to be seen, she followed the boys as they made their way across the grounds toward a large tree...

_As always review and I just might convince the lare men that are currently standing behind you to spare your life. Don't review and well... I think you understand_


	18. Lessons from the Cinema

_A/N Thanks for the review. Hopefully this is quick enough._

Chapter 18: Lessons from the Cinema

"How much longer will it be?" Peter asked anxiously, from the tree stump that the marauders were standing behind. They were facing a very large and rather creaky willow tree, that seemed to sway constantly, even though there was no sign of a breeze that night.

Though Emily could only see his back from the bushes where she had hidden herself, she could tell that Peter's face was lit with an expectant and eager smile.

"Wait Wormtail." James said with a slight snigger. "They only just went in, Madame Pompfrey'll be a while coming out."

"She always is." Sirius added. "Besides, you don't want to miss the fun do you?"

Sirius's voice held a vicious kind of anticipation.

"What fun?" Peter asked stupidly. She saw Sirius turn to him and shoot a disbelieving glance.

"Oh." Peter said with newfound comprehension. "Yeah. Wouldn't wanna miss that."

"Miss what?" James asked feigning innocence. Though Emily could tell that he was rubbing his hands together nervously.

"You'll see." Sirius said casually.

There was a tiny thought in her mind that he might not do it. James might just let Snape follow Remus into the tree. He might not even make the effort to save him.

Well, she had worked out what to do if he didn't. She would just have to do it herself.

Yes, a true modern heroine probably would have just done it herself to begin with. But, after that little display with Lilly Evans back in the castle, James did need a bit of a confidence boost. Surely it would not be wrong to let him play the hero just this once.

They did not wait in silence long before Severus Snape came sneaking up the hill.

"Wait for it..." Sirius whispered with quiet anticipation as Snape hesitated at the trunk of the tree and picked up a very long stick.

The trees branches waved almost threateningly as if giving Snape a warning not to come any closer. It seemed ridiculous that a tree could give a warning. But then again many things in this world seemed ridiculous to Emily, and it didn't make them any less true.

Severus was looking at the tree with an extreme amount of caution as if afraid that if he took another step the tree just might attack. Slowly, he reached the stick out at arms length and began prodding the trunk of the tree.

Suddenly one of the tree's limbs reached down and made a vast swatting motion. Snape jumped back just in time as the long thorny limb came crashing down two feet away from where he stood. Emily heard Sirius and Peter let out soft sniggers of amusement.

Once the branch swung back into place on the tree, Snape prodded the trunk again, this time in another direction. He jumped back as if expecting another branch to come down swinging at him. However, this time the tree seemed to freeze in place, it's colour turning from wood to a marble like gray.

"Here it comes..." Sirius whispered eagerly as Snape seemed to find an open passage at the bottom of the tree trunk. Cautiously, he stepped into the open passage and, soon, slipped out of sight.

"And there he goes!" Sirius said triumphantly. "I just wish I could see the look on that little creep's face when he sees Moony...Prongs? You all right mate?"

Emily could see James wringing his hands in hesitation, and she could tell that he was pursing his lips. Then, suddenly without warning, James tore himself from his hiding spot and followed Snape's lead down to the trunk of the tree.

"Prongs? What...?!" Sirius began to yell after his friend, but to now avail. James had already disappeared down the passage way.

"Come on." Sirius said to Peter as he began to head towards the trunk of the whomping willow. Peter however, stayed behind.

"But-but what if tree starts up again?" Peter asked in a high pitched voice.

"Don't be such a whimp wormtail!" Sirius said frantically to Peter who was now stepping backward hesitantly.

"Look, if it does you can just transform and press the knot again, all right?"

Something told Emily that she didn't want to know what "transform" meant.

Finally Peter consented with a nod, and both of them began their descent into the passageway.

Emily made sure that they were both safely out of sight before running to the willow and entering the passageway herself. (If she left James unsupervised after all, there was no telling what he'd do.)

"James!" She heard Sirius call as she followed the sounds of his and Peter's feet around the corners of the tunnel. It had not occurred to her that it was going to be much more difficult to remain hidden while inside the passageway. Emily in fact, assumed that it was due to mere luck that Peter and Sirius hadn't noticed the sounds of footsteps following them into the cave.

"Prongs?!" Sirius shouted once more. Apparently Snape and James were already too far ahead to answer.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Sirius muttered as he hit his head on a very low arch of rocks in the cave.

He stopped walking and stood very still. A moment later Sirius had disappeared and in his place stood an enormous black dog.

This was far too much for Emily to take in.

Without thinking, she let out a very audible and quite resounding (the cave walls seemed to echo), high-pitched squeak. At which the dog and Peter swiftly turned around to find Emily covering her mouth with her hand and openly gaping at the large black dog standing where Sirius had been less than a minuet ago.

"Gardner?!" Peter said his eyes just as wide and fearful as hers had been. The dog let out a low, and quite clearly agitated growl.

"What- did he...?" Was all Emily managed to say before.

"SNAPE!"

Peter and the dog took off at a run to follow the sound of James's voice. Emily, though still in quite a state of shock managed to follow at their heels.

"Potter!" Emily heard Snape say as the three began to draw nearer the other two voices. (The shouting of surnames was becoming a bit redundant.)

"Now why on earth would I listen to you?" Snape asked quite silkily, his wand pointed at an obviously locked door at the end of the tunnel.

"Trying to keep our little friend's secret are we?" Snape gave a menacing sneer.

"Prongs? What's going on?" Peter was beginning to round the corner. Before following, the large dog stopped in his tracks and reared his head at Emily before transforming back into Sirius.

He simply glared at Emily for a moment before saying exasperatedly,

"Come on."

With that he turned the corner to follow Peter, Emily now thoroughly confused, running in his wake.

"Ahh." Snape said, a bright sneer lighting his face as he saw Peter and Sirius turn the corner. "So I see I'm not the only one that's interested in what's behind this door."

"I'm warning you..." James said whipping out his own wand.

"So I've heard." Snape said coldly, wand still pointed at the door.

"Let's find out what it is you'd rather I not see, shall we?" With one last sneer he raised his wand.

"Alohamor-"But Snape never got the chance to finish. At that moment James threw his wand down to the floor and lunged after Snape grabbing him by the waist and throwing him to the wall of the passageway, two feet safely away from the door.

At that moment a long, painful sounding cry came from inside the room.

Peter backed away hurriedly.

Sirius stayed rooted to his spot beside the wall.

Snape, still carrying his own wand, looked more eager to open the door than he had before, and was currently struggling against James's hold on him.

Emily, however, for one reason or another seemed drawn to the wand that James had dropped on the ground. She walked over to it and began examining it, as if entranced.

James turned around to look at the spot where he had lost his wand, and spied her, apparently for the first time.

"Emily! What the bloody hell are you doing here?!"

But as Emily lifted her head to answer him, she was met with the image of Severus Snape raising his wand to the back of James's neck. Somehow, she was reminded vaguely of a film she had seen once, where the hero asked the exact same question of his companion before having his head blown off.

Well that was not going to happen this time. One thing she had learned from the cinemas: a heroine must do everything she possibly can to save a likeable character's life,(After all, she just might win an oscar for it later).

So, without thinking, Emily picked up James's wand, pointed it at Snape and, (for the second time that day), said the first thing that came to her head.

"Expeliarmus" She shouted loudly.

Much to the astonishment of everyone in the room, Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air, and landed at Emily's feet.

The boys stood gaping at her. Finally, Peter said:

"But you're a muggle. How did you...?" Unfortunately for all involved, excluding Emily, (who did not fancy the idea of not knowing the answer to how she was able to perform magic without being magical), the door burst open to reveal a rather stern and motherly looking woman with brown hair and wearing nurse's robes.

"What's going on hear?" She demanded looking from Peter and Sirius, who were still gawking at Emily holding James's wand, to James and Snape (who was craning his neck to peek into the room behind her.)

"Well?" The nurse demanded again.

Emily felt all eyes immediately land on her, as if they all expected her to explain the entire story.

The truth was, Emily was far too confused herself to explain anything to anyone. Still, it was clear that she was going to have to do something.

Another classic cinema heroine antic quickly popped into her mind. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing Emily could think of at the moment. It would have to do.

So, with one last wide eyed frightened look at the nurse, she let out a heavy pre-fainting spell sigh, put her hand to her head, and allowed herself to, gracefully fall down to the floor in.

Immediately she felt a pair of hands lifting her off the ground and begin carrying her out of the passageway.

Who said you couldn't learn anything from the cinemas.

_Again. Please review and make me HAPPY!_


	19. Crime and Punishment

Chapter 19: Crime and Punishment

"I don't know how much longer it will be head master..." The voice of the nurse seemed to come from somewhere far away.

"...The child has been through quite an ordeal. She needs her rest."

Where was she?

"Then by all means, Poppy, let her rest." This voice was new. It sounded fairly raspy and quite old, but somehow gave off the impression of great energy.

"When she does wake up would you please be so kind as to escort her to my office? I will be speaking with the other's there until then."

"Of course headmaster."

The headmaster. Perfect. In an attempt to keep all of them out of trouble, she seemed to have created more.

Emily opened her eyes blearily only to find her self in a completely unfamiliar room that resembled a hospital. And judging from the light that was beginning to dawn outside the window, it had been at least seven hours since her "fainting spell".

Honestly, she had not intended to fall asleep, but somewhere between the whomping willow and the double doors that led into the castle, her mind decided to join her eyes. This meant that she had not been able to eavesdrop on much of the conversation that inevitably took place leading up to the castle.Maybe if she had been awake, she would have been able to hear what was in store for the others.

Before too much guilt could set in about this, however, the nurse came bustling over to her bed carrying a clear goblet that was full of clear brown liquid.

"Oh, you're up dear. How are you feeling?"

Emily squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light.

"All right I guess." She answered blearily.

"Here." The nurse said handing her the goblet and helping her up onto her pillows. "This should help any dizziness."

Emily looked hesitantly at the murky brown liquid (which was emitting great huffs of steam), before bringing it to her lips and swallowing. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the liquid had the distinct taste of chocolate.

"Any better now?" The nurse asked briskly.

"Yes. Much." Emily answered. She did, somehow feel astonishingly better after the (she supposed) chocolate drink.

"Good. Now finish the rest of that. I've been given instructions to bring you straight to the headmaster's office when you're done."

"Why?" Emily asked without really expecting a straight forward answer.

"Just finish the drink dear. You don't need to get too excited after all you've been through...that horrid tree it's a wonder none of them were seriously injured..." Emily heard the nurse mutter this almost to herself.

If figured. Adults never seemed to trust anyone below the age of twenty with the straightforward truth. It was as if you became eligible to handle the difficulties of life once you reached legal drinking age.

Emily finished her drink, and suddenly felt quite (there was no other word for it) perky. In fact if she were not so worried about what she would encounter in the head master's office, she would have jumped off of her bed, with out the assistance of the nurse.

With a slight bounce in her step, she followed the nurse out of the doors of the hospital wing and down a long corridor.

It was not long before they stopped, dead on in front of a marble gargoyle standing guard, over an unextraordinary wall.

"Ice mice." The nurse said directly to the gargoyle, which immediately sprang to life and hopped aside. The wall also began to slowly move, revealing a large grand staircase.

"Come along dear." The nurse said ushering her toward the steps.

It was not long before Emily found herself, in what was probably, the most intricate room in the castle. Out of the corner of her eye she could see silver instruments spinning and whirring along the walls, which were also lined with portraits, who's subjects appeared to be soundly asleep in their frames.

"Ah, Miss Gardner." A voice from the front of the room made her jump. She had been so fascinated by the room it's self that she had not noticed the others.

Sirius and James sat in wood back chairs on either side of each other. It was clear from the glares they sent back and forth every now and then, that they were currently not at all pleased with each other.

Peter sat between them, attempting to appear small and insignificant, perhaps hoping that he would not be noticed.

On the far right side of the room Severus Snape sat hunched in a small arm chair, looking disdainful as if he very much resented having to be there at all.

And At the front of the room, sat a very old man with a long white beard that disappeared behind the desk at which he was sitting. He wore half moon spectacles which were inadequate to hide the twinkle in his blue eyes.

If this was the head master he did not bear any resemblance at all to the disciplinarian who headed St. Magdalene. Still, fear mixed with a sense of guilt seemed to creep into her once again as she remembered that if she had simply stayed out of the whole mess, none of them would be there at all.

"Have a seat." The headmaster said indicating the small arm chair next to the desk. Emily simply nodded confused. He did not sound as if she were in any sort of trouble at all.

"I am afraid we have not been formally introduced." He continued genially. "I am Albus Dumbledore. Head master of hogwarts."

Emily gave another nod. Knowing that her Uncle would have reprimanded her for not, at the very least offering her hand. The headmaster however, did not seem to mind.

"Who is she?" Snape asked suddenly, a tone of aggressive indignation in his voice. Emily gave him a rather half hearted death glare. She was seriously beginning to regret saving his life.

"I think, Severus, that is a question that Miss Gardner can answer far better than I." Dumbledore was surveying her with a look of interest, as if waiting for her to begin the whole tale.

It was an impossible feat. There was no way that any word of her story would make sense to an outsider without getting the other four boys into more trouble.

"Well...er...I-"

"It's a long story." Sirius finished for her. Emily had never felt more grateful towards him. (Well, if you wanted to be technical, until that moment she hadn't thought herself capable of feeling grateful toward Sirus Black.)

"Sirius, if there is one thing I have learned in my life time," Dumbledore said. "It is that there is always time for the truth."

Damn. Now she would have to tell the whole story, or an incredibly convincing lie.

"Miss Gardner..." the headmaster waved a hand indicating for her to begin her tale. She would have to tell the truth. Somehow, even though he wasn't the disciplinarian that the witch of a nun who ran St. Magdalene's was, she had a feeling that no lie she could invent would be able to fool the man in front of her.

So with a heavy sigh, she began. She admitted of course that she was a bit hazy on the beginning. She did not remember much after falling out of the tree. However, she made sure to word her experience in the forest before the boys found her very carefully, so as to make sure that it didn't sound as if Remus had been anywhere that he was not supposed to be that night.

She told the headmaster nearly everything else. (She excluded the chivalry lessons, as she thought that those ought to be left as a private matter). Emily did, however, tell about her excursions with the cloak, how she had over heard Sirius's plan, (Sirius shot her a mutinous glare when she told this portion of the story) and informed James of it.

Admittedly, she made James sound more heroic than was entirely fair, and she left Peter's part in the prank out completely. She felt as though she owed them both something.

When she finished, there was a rather tense silence. Every eye was still riveted to her as if waiting for her to continue. (Perhaps she _did_ have her mother's theatrical talent after all.)

"Very well," Dumbledore said finally.

"Madame Pomfrey?" He addressed the nurse, who had been standing dutifully by the door.

"Yes sir."

"If you will return to the hospital wing, I believe that Mr. Lupin will be waking up soon and will, no doubt be feeling a considerable amount of confusion. Make sure he does not over exert himself."

"Very well," the nurse answered. And with a last hesitant look at Emily, as if expecting her to faint again any moment, she walked briskly back down the staircase.

"Severus," He said moving his gaze toward Snape, who was attempting to hide a look of complete confusion with a rather sullen one.

"I must ask you not to repeat to any one what you saw in the tunnel last night." The headmaster fixed him with a serious look, that she knew even Snape could not reply indignantly to.

"Yes sir." He muttered.

"Well then, I suggest that you return to your common room and get some sleep." Snape got up from his chair and swept menacingly down the stair case, reminding Emily very much of a bat.

Once Snape was out of sight, Dumbledore turned to James, Sirius and Peter.

"If I could ask the rest of you to step outside for a moment, I would like to speak with Emily alone."

"So...can we go back to the common room then?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Not quite yet Peter." Dumbledore said simply.

Peter opened his mouth once more as if to protest, but James shuffled him off toward the door before he could say another word.

"We'll just be out here." He said before the three of them left. Emily looked to James once again silently begging them not to leave. But James only caught her eye and gave her another one of his winks, before descending the staircase with the others.

Perfect. Now she was alone in a strange office. Surely her punishment was coming. She thought vaguely of what the nun's used at her school. It was a large whip like switch, which they would hit your wrists with repeatedly until they bled. Would Dumbledore use the switch? Perhaps he would use some new sort of torture...

"Have a biscuit miss Gardner."

"Excuse me sir?" Emily asked. She was sure she had not heard him correctly.

"Please take a biscuit." Dumbledore said smiling and indicating a tin on his desk.

"I suggest the lemon flavored as they are my personal favorite. However, the chocolate covered are very nice as well..."

Emily hesitated for a moment. Before opening the tin and pulling out the smallest chocolate covered biscuit she could find.

"Thank you sir." She said slowly. Dumbledore smiled at her as if waiting for her to take a bite. Perhaps this was her torture. Maybe there was some kind of poison in that biscuit.

But what would he have to gain by poisoning her? Ransom? By the look of the room, it was highly unlikely. Still you could never be too careful (that was what her father said anyway).

Even with these reservations, she managed to take a very small bite of the chocolate covering. Apparently satisfied, Dumbledore began to speak.

"Now, as I'm sure you know, Emily. Running away like that brought along quite a few complications." Dumbledore looked to her for confirmation.

"Yes sir." She said. Though she feared the sort of complications Dumbledore was speaking of.

"I thought that I should explain to you before they arrive..." But at that moment steps were heard from the doorway. Emily turned her head to see a balding, seedy looking man with a long moldy trench coat standing in the door way.

"Headmaster," He said, displaying several missing teeth when he spoke.

"Yes Argus."

"Apparently, these two men wish to speak with you. They say that it's urgent." The man said with a hint of indignation.

"Send them in Argus." Dumbledore said with a nod to the man in the doorframe.

Emily could already make a very fair guess as to who one of those two men was. And if she was right, this fact in and of it's self was far more frightening than any physical punishment imaginable.


	20. Of Winshires and Gardners

_A/N: So...you expect me to continue the story without having to put in the reviewing work eh? Well you got very lucky this time. If I didn't like this story so much, I might not have posted this chapter, jut because of lack of reviews..._

_Anyway, only one more chapter to go. (So you'd bettered review this time or you won't hear the end of it...litteraly.)_

Chapter 20: Of Winshires and Gardners

"Emmy!" There was only one person in the world who called her that.

And sure enough, before the seedy man could step out of the room, a tall rather skinny man, with glasses and thin blonde hair bounded frantically into the room.

"Dad!" Emily said as her father ran swiftly over to her chair and folded her into a hug.

"Emmy, are you all right?" He asked hurriedly as he finally released her.

"They haven't done anything to you have they?" He asked lowering his voice considerably.

She could not help but smile at this. She knew that by "they" her father meant the English. (Or as he affectionately termed them, "the bloody Brits").

"I'm fine Dad." Emily said calmly. Though, her father still looked skeptical.

Being a catholic from Ireland, he had never been fond of bringing his child up in England. However, the combined incomes of a writer and an actress hardly allowed her father and mother to finance a home of their own. So, they had taken up residence in the spare guest house on Emily's mother's old family estate which Emily's uncle had taken over after the death of her grandfather.

They were allowed to remain at the guest home only on the condition that Emily's upbringing would be left completely to her uncle's discretion.

Over the years, her father had become increasingly paranoid that her uncle was a conspirator in an English plot to brainwash his daughter.

"Who was Parnell?" He asked quickly.

He did this whenever she was alone with her uncle, or any British citizen (besides her mother), outside of his supervision. Always afraid that the Brit's had brainwashed her against the idea of Irish freedom

"The rightful and unduly massacared king of Ireland." This was the standard answer. Sure enough it worked.

"Good girl." Her Father said smiling apparently relieved.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief herself. At least her Father would make the inevitable a bit less tense.

"The utter incompetence!" Another voice came from the stairwell.

The inevitable had arrived.

"In my day, a Winshire hardly needed to be announced!"

Her Uncle simply adored reminiscing to whoever would listen, about the prestige the family name of Winshire (her mother's maiden name), once held.

Indeed, he seemed like a sort of faded relic from the old Victorian era. A small potbelly hung out of his once very fashionable suit, along with a pocket watch on a long imitation gold chain. His hair, which was once full and brown, was now graying slightly and there was a bald patch directly on the top of his head. His eyes however were as sharp as anything. And he proved their worth when they immediately glanced over to inspect Emily.

"I see." He said by way of a greeting.

"Only three weeks away from school, and you're appearance has already suffered."

Imidiately he walked further into the room and began circling Emily, glancing distastefully at her torn stockings and muddy shoes.

This was one of his favourite games. If he found nothing unsatisfactory in her appearance, he would simply say "hmm" and no more. This however, was not often the case.

"Posture is horrendous. Sit up straight girl! You are a Winshire not a baboon!"

Emily did as she was told. Despite her deep-seated loathing of her uncle, he was one of the few people whom she did not dare to contradict. No one contradicted Rowland Hamilton Winshire.

"Finger nails are ghastly." He said picking up her hands to inspect them more closely.

"If they have running water in this medieval nut house, it is certain you made no use of it."

Emily glanced over to Dumbledore, expecting him to react to the slight on his school. Dumbledore, however, seemed quite composed. He continued watching the scene with interest. As if he were a university student being given a lecture by the professor.

Uncle Rowland dropped Emily's hand and instead began to pull at a loose curl in her hair.

"And did I or did I not _specifically _say that you're hair should be held back at all times?"

It was almost like a trick when her uncle asked questions like this. If you answered him, he would reprimand you for interrupting. If you didn't answer her would say impatiently:

"Well? Speak up girl!"

"You did sir." Emily said pulling her eyes down to the floor. Emily's father looked at her Uncle as if he would like very much to say what was going through his mind. Though she knew that her father, while privately content to mutter suspicious insults behind her uncle's back would never confront Uncle Rowland to his face. (Unless of course Uncle Rowland threw an insult towards the Gardner family tree.)

Uncle Rowland continued his inspection.

"Stockings torn, skirt ruined, face smudged. Tell me; Emily Winshire Gardner, do you intend to join those longhaired pillock's you see on American television? Because at the moment that seems to be the only ambition you are worthy of."

Once he seemed satisfied with this last insult, he turned his attention to Dumbledore as if just noticing he was there.

"Am I right in suggesting that this," he waved his hand to indicate Emily's appearance. "Is your doing sir?"

Dumbledore looked at Uncle Rowland and smiled as though rather amused.

"No actually. You would be quite wrong in that assumption." Dumbledore said cheerfully.

Uncle Rowland looked as if he had had the wind knocked out of him by a particularly painful punch. Rowland Hamilton Winshire was _never_ wrong.

"I'm afraid that pleasurable duty fell to four of our male students. I assure you, I know as little about the arrangement as you do."

"Do you mean that Emmy's been in the care of adolescent Brits for the past two and a half weeks?!" Her father asked with a hint of protective suspicion.

"I assure you Mr. Gardner, she has been very well attended to." Dumbledore said reassuringly.

"In fact, as I have been told, those boys were the reason her right leg is not currently broken."

"It's true dad." Emily said to her father who was still looking disbelieving. His expression softened somewhat when he looked down at her.

Meanwhile, Uncle Rowland seemed to have recovered from the suggestion that a Winshire could possibly be wrong, and had (Unfortunately, Emily thought.) regained the power of speech.

"Sir." He said impatiently to Dumbledore, who kindly returned his attention to him.

"If you cannot enlighten us on the current situation, then I would please like to speak with someone who can. After all, an owl landing on one's doorstep in the early hours of the morning, carrying a note, is hardly enough explanation for...this!"

Uncle Rowland seemed to have run out of patience as well as adjectives. This was a rare occurrence. Indeed, Emily had never seen her Uncle so flustered.

"Actually, Mr. Winshire, you will find that I can enlighten you on many aspects of this situation." Dumbledore said calmly, as though speaking to an overactive child.

"For instance, through the events of these past two weeks, it has come to my attention that Emily is far more than, perhaps, she may appear to be."

Emily looked quizzically at him. Was he talking about what happened in the cave? What she had done with James's wand? But that was just a fluke, wasn't it? Her Father also appeared to be eyeing Dumbledore with interest. Her uncle, however, still appeared quite livid.

"I am well aware of her potential thank you!" He said folding his arms in a superior manner. "And I would still like to know what the bleeding hell is going on!"

Emily blinked as she looked up at her uncle. She had never heard him swear before. Indeed the words sounded very strange coming out of his mouth. Dumbledore however looked as calm as ever.

"Well, then it seems that we both have quite a bit of explaining to do, Mr. Winshire." He said quite pleasantly.

" I can, as you put it, 'enlighten' you about what has essentially taken place from the time Emily disappeared from St. Magdalene's Academy for Young Ladies up until this point. However, this story truly begins six years ago. And I'm afraid that only, you Mr. Winshire, are able to...er... 'enlighten' us on that particular aspect of the tale."

All eyes in the room went straight to Uncle Rowland, who seemed to have gone considerably pale.

"I'm sure I have no idea, what you're talking about."

Uncle Rowland said defensively, though Emily could tell that he was becoming all the more flustered. What was he hiding?

"Really?" Dumbledore asked curiously. "Because I'm sure that an owl landing on one's door step in the middle of the afternoon is not something one simply forgets after six years."

"Rowland? What's he talking about?" Emily's father asked, apparently as confused as she was.

"No idea...what-what is this rubbish about?" Her uncle made the mistake of attempting to remain on the offensive side of things, which only made him seem guiltier.

"Yeah, I bet you don't." Emily distinctly heard her father mutter under his breath.

"And I suspect," Dumbledore continued as if he had never been interrupted. "that an invitation for one's niece to attend a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is not something one easily discards."

An invitation? But...wait...did that mean?

"What are you saying?" Emily asked Dumbledore boldly before either her Uncle or her father could say a word.

"All I am saying, miss Gardner, is that we have one female spot for this current sixth year that has never been occupied, and there is an extra name written on our roster. I'm afraid beyond that, you're uncle knows far more than I."

Dumbledore's eyes turned back to Uncle Rowland, politely waiting for him to explain himself. But Emily was through with waiting.

She knew what this must mean. She had just wasted six years of her life!

"You-you knew, all this time? And you never told me?"

Of course she would have liked for this acusation to have sounded much stronger. More like a heroine would speak to the villain in a novel. But a small betrayed sounding voice was all she could muster. And to tell the truth, even that was a challenge when facing her uncle.

Still, at least now she, knew who the villain in her story was. (Even if he was not quite mysterious, he was still quite foul enough.)

"It was for your own good!" Her Uncle said defensively. "I could not have the name of Winshire associated with this load of hodgepodge. Why, if word got out that my neice attended some school of magic..."

"I still don't get it." Her father said looking from Uncle Rowland to Emily to Dumbledore, still quite confused, but Emily was certain she heard him say under his breath.

"Knew you were hiding something. Sneaky little Brit..."

"To put it plainly, Mr. Gardner..." Dumbledore said smiling (She was almost certain that Dumbledore had heard her father's paranoid mutterings too.) "You're daughter, is a witch."

Emily, who had expected her father to be silently stunned to say the least, was shocked to look over and see him beaming at her, as if she had just been crowned the queen of England.

"I knew it!" He said triumphantly pulling her into another embrace.

"The moment you were born Emmy, I could see it in you're eyes. You had you're grandmother's magic. The old magic. They (the brits) tried to stamp it out of you but they couldn't Emmy! That Gardner blood 'a yours is too strong!"

"It's simply impossible!" Her uncle said slightly breathless, but still rather determined.

"While she may have shown certain...attributes...necessary for this sort of useless hocus pocus several years ago, all of it has certainly been...detained since." He attempted to look calm and collected as he said this, however, Emily could detect a note of panic in his voice.

"Actually you would be quite wrong in _that_ assumption as well, Mr. Winshire." Dumbledore said genially.

"Oh would I?" Uncle Rowland nearly bellowed, puffing out his chest, as if readying himself for a fight.

Dumbledore looked at him with an amused and pitying sort of glance.

"Yes indeed..." and with that, Dumbledore launched calmly into the story of the whomping willow.

When he had finished, Uncle Rowland was pacing the room, in a now obvious state of panic. Her father beamed down at her as if this was the single happiest day of his life.

"That-that could have been anything...a coincidence. Mere coincidence." Uncle Rowland muttered almost to himself as he began to pace.

"It is possible." Dumbledore answered, appearing to consider the matter.

Emily felt her heart drop. It wasn't coincidence. It couldn't be!

"But highly unlikely." Dumbledore continued. This was the signal for Emily to breath again.

"Especially considering the letter that was sent to her on her eleventh birthday. A letter..." Dumbledore trailed off as he took out his wand.

"Which I believe she has the right to read for herself now." With a flourish of his wand, a handsome Envelope with emerald green writing appeared on the desk. He handed it to Emily who opened it hastily and began to read the letter inside.

_Dear Miss Gardner,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

The letter went on, however, (as it had with Remus's letter), everything in the world seemed to have paled in comparison to that sentence. So she _did_ belong here! She always had! The joy that seemed to erupt in her stomach, temporarily overtook the rage that she felt at her uncle for deceiving her.

Her Father seemed to have felt the same way. Once he had read the sentence he let out a boyant laugh, that seemed to take him back at least twenty years into his child hood. Immediately he picked Emily up and spun her once around the room.

"Imagine!" He said, slightly breathless as he put her down. "My daughter one of the old kind..."

Her father had always told her the stories of the "old kind" generations back into the Gardner family. She remembered the fantastic stories he had told her of relatives that had achieved daring feats through the use of magic. He had told her that her own Grandmother (whom she had never met), had this same type of magic. The magic of old...

"Ridiculous!" Uncle Rowland snapped suddenly. "Not that there is much anyone can do about it now. I appealed to everyone I could to make sure that her name would be removed from this school as soon as I received the letter. Even appealed to your minister, who said I wouldn't have to worry about it. And I assume I still don't." Here he managed to take a small breath, in his apparent passion and outrage.

"Whatever strange...quirks...the girl may still carry with her, I assure you sir, they will be dealt with when she returns to school." Uncle Rowland finished definitely as if sure he had just won the argument.

Emily's father threw a mutinous glance at Uncle Rowland, but, for his own safety, kept silent.

Dumbledore however only smiled his amused, somewhat pittying smile, looking at her uncle as though he were a small child, who did not yet understand the ways of the world.

"That all depends Mr. Winshire, on which school Emily chooses to attend."

"What?!" Uncle Rowland hissed venomously. "I have been in charge of her education since she was six years old thank you very much!"

"However, I'm sure you have noticed," Dumbledore said moving his glance from Uncle Rowland to Emily. "That Emily is no longer six years old. Now that she has two choices for next year's education. I suggest, that she make them on her own."

"Well, of course she's grown!" Uncle Rowland said sounding defeated, yet still determined. "But the fact still remains that I am her legal guardian!"

"No you're not." This time it was not Dumbledore who spoke, but Emily's father.

"I'm still her father. And, I say she stays." Emily stared at her father in wonder. No one in her family had dared to contradict her uncle before.

Uncle Rowland seemed too shocked by this sudden move to speak for a moment. Emily took the chance to verify that she was not, in fact, dreaming.

"You-you mean. I can stay?" She looked from her Father to Dumbledore who nodded with a slight twinkle in his eye.

"Daniel..." Her uncle hissed venemously. "We have a deal..."

"No Rowland." Her father said in a sharp voice "We _had_ a deal. That was before you went behind my back! I should've known you were a spotty sort from the start. Should've guessed you'd try and keep the family name of Gardner down! But you couldn't do it could you?" Her father seemed to be gaining confidence with every sentence he spoke.

"No, turns out that little Emmy's made of stronger stuff than you took her to be! Turn's out there's more Gardner in 'er than Winshire!" Her father finished triumphantly, turning once again to beam at his daughter.

"Well." That seemed to be the only thing her uncle was capable of saying at the moment.

"Well." He said again as he began to head towards the staircase. "As it seems I am going to be overruled, I suppose I will let you carry on with this...useless occupation." In his flustered state Uncle Rowland seemed unable to return a better adjective.

"But I will not pay a single shilling to finance this...frivolity." He began to leave the room, but not before adding.

"It appears that your father was right Emily Gardner. You are no Winshire!" And, looking as if he had just thrown the greatest insult one human being could hurl at another, Uncle Rowland stompped down the stair well and out of sight.

"Well, now that that's settled." Dumbledore said rubbing his hands together and smiling cheerfully.

"Mr. Gardner, if I may, I would like a private word before you go." Emily's father nodded, but then looked hesitantly at Emily.

"And I believe that Emily has business of her own to attend to in the hospital wing."

Dumbledore said turning to Emily with a twinkle in his eye. And she could never be sure but she was almost certain that He gave her a wink.

"Yes sir." She answered before nearly running to the stair case. She couldn't wait to tell Remus.

"Oh, Emmy." Her father stopped her. "Before you go, you're Mum asked me to give you this note." Her father took a small envelope from his waistcoat pocket and handed it to Emily.

"She's still on tour with the theater troupe in France." He explained. And having the time of her life no doubt

Emily unfolded the parchment and read:

_Darling,_

_I miss you so much, and am quite glad to find you safe and sound (assuming of course that you are). Running away as you did gave me such a terrible fright and I must ask you not to do it again._

_On a more pleasant note, Paris is posotively stunning. And I've bought you a lovely broach to match that dress from spain. I'll tell you all about the tour when we return to England this summer. But now I've got to dash darling. We're giving a special performance at the moulouin Rouge and I would hate to be late._

_Again, miss you._

_With much love,_

_Mummy._

Perfect. Her mother would, no doubt, be extremely proud of her. Even though her mother had been born a Winshire, Emily somehow got the feeling that her mother had a Gardner spirit.

Just like her.

_I'm reminding you for the last time. REVIEW! Or things might just get uglier than they already are..._


	21. A Heroine's work is never done

_A/N: I Lied. I know...I know... please don't get mad at me. _This_ is the second to last chapter. I tried to put this on the last chapter and make it all one, but it just got far too long, and it made more sense to sort of split it up...again my apologies. I will get the last chapter up very soon! _

_(Unless ofcourse you don't review. I just love holding that over your heads!)_;)

Chapter twenty-one: A Heroine's job is never done

Emily walked briskly to the hospital wing with an extra bounce in her step. It was difficult to imagine that less than twenty four hours ago, she had been worried about having to leave the castle before summer.

Now, with the knowledge that she would be back next year, somehow things had changed dramatically. They had changed for the better certainly, but that did not stop the fact that they had changed.

In fact, in novelesque terms, this had worked out to be a perfect happy ending. Though for some reason it seemed more like the beginning of something than the end...

It was a strange sensation, she decided, having things turn out the way they were supposed to. Still, she couldn't help thinking that this was the happiest day of her life thus far.

Needless to say, she reached the door of the hospital wing with more than an extra bounce in your step. Hastily she began to turn the knob.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Emily whipped around to find James Potter casually leaning on the stair railings across from the hospital door. In her haste to see Remus, Emily decided, she must not have noticed him.

"Why not?" Emily asked with slight disappointment.

"Because Madame Pompfrey'll throw you out of there the minuet you step foot inside. Believe me I've tried it. Says he needs to be sedated. Whatever that means."

"Are you sure it wasn't just you?" Emily asked facisiously.

"Hilarious." James said dryly. Emily took one extra look at the door and decided not to risk it. Instead she joined James on the stair railings.

She _had_ wanted Remus to be the first to hear the news that she would be staying their last year. That would be the perfect time to let loose the news. After all, a hospital bed side revelation was very dramatic.

"So what did Dumbledore want to see you about?"

Neither the mood nor the timing seemed right for such a revelation. The scene was too relaxed. So, Emily thought quickly of what her Mother would do:

"That's my business" She said in a dignified tone. "You'll see soon enough."

James looked skeptically at her.

"Well that's rather snobbish of you, don't you think? Seeing as I did save you're life."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"And I suppose you wouldn't be in the hospital wing right now if I hadn't kept Snape from blasting you're head off?"

Obviously James still had a few lessons to learn in humility. Oh, well. A heroine's work never seemed to be done

"I could've handeled it." James muttered.

While Emily gave him a supirior look, she did not press the matter further.

"And didn't Dumbledore want to talk to you too?" Emily asked, hoping to evade more questions about what had transpired in Dumbledore's office.

"Oh, yeah. Peter and Sirius are still in there." James said. "But he let me go early. Said something about me having more important things to worry about."

"James?"

Ironically enough the 'more important things' Dumbledore had spoken of came walking up directly behind James, causing him to turn around very quickly.

"Hi Lilly." He said, sounding very comical as he had tried all too quickly to put on his deep, suave, voice.

Both Lilly and Emily tried very hard not to laugh.

"I...uh...came to see Remus." Lilly said. For some reason, she seemed rather flustered.

"How is he?" She asked after a brief pause.

"Don't know." James answered lamely. Emily had the urge to kick him. She had told him to always answer a lady in complete sentences.

"Madame Pompfrey won't let anyone in yet." He continued. All right. Decent save.

"We've been waiting." James finished indicating Emily.

And he was doing so well. He should have simply left her out of it.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I was interrupting anything." Lilly said looking at Emily surprised and slightly disappointed. That was a good sign. It meant that she cared, at least somewhat, about James's interaction with girls.

"No, you weren't interrupting." Emily said politely, trying to give James (who was sitting stupidly in silence), an indication to say something.

Thankfully he took the prompt.

"No. No. Lilly, this is _Remus's _friend. Emily Gardner." James took care to place a special emphasis on Remus.

"Oh," Lilly said, her face lifting slightly, another good sign. "Well, it's nice to meet you." She said smiling politely.

"Likewise." Emily said in a tone that would have made her mother proud.

There was another awkward pause as the three of them leaned against the railing.

"I...er...heard about Snape and the whomping willow."

Allready? Emily thought. How did news travel so quickly in such a large castle?

"Oh!" Said James apparently very pleased. "Well then you know that I-"But Emily poked him hard in the ribs.

"_humility" _She hissed through her teeth before he could give himself further praise.

"...I mean you know that he's all right." James corrected slowly. And Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes." Lilly said quietly. "And I think that it was really quite...brave...of you saving him like that." Lilly said this as if it took all the strength that she possessed.

After thinking you hate a boy for at least five years, and then learning that you've fancied him all along, was, after all, a big step.

"You do?" James asked with a rather cute amount of nervous energy that made Lilly smile.

"Yeah, I do."

At that moment the hospital door opened.

"He's been calmed down now." The nurse said poking out through the door. The three of them stepped off of the stair railing and began to make their way through the door. But Madame Pompfrey stopped them with her hand.

"I can only allow one at a time. His condition is still rather delicate." She explained.

Then to Emily's astonishment, the nurse beckoned her forward.

"He's been asking after you dear." She said leading Emily toward the door.

_Oh and P.S: I'm contemplating making a sequel to this if I get enough reveiws on these last two chapters. So I'll stress out. If you like it REVIEW!_


	22. A Hero's Exit

_A/N: Last chapter! Hope you like it and review accordingly._

Chapter twenty-two: A Hero's Exit

"...It's this bed over here." The nurse said leading her through the hospital. "Though I normally wouldn't allow visitors just yet. But in you're case..."

The nurse sighed exasperatedly and carefully pushed back the curtains of a small bed in the far right corner of the hospital wing. It seemed far secluded from the others.

"We had to put him back to sleep with a potion, poor thing." She shook her head slightly

Remus lay on his back fast asleep. His clothes were torn and his arm was sporting large scratches from the previous night's excursion. Still, he looked rather peaceful.

"When he first woke up, he was in quite a state... Convinced that you were in some kind of danger. I simply had to put him out again. But he'll be all right now you're here I think."

Emily Barely heard what the nurse said as she continued to watch Remus's rather labored breathing.

"He should wake up soon. I'll leave you two alone." She said with a knowing smile and walked off.

It was still difficult to imagine that a few hours ago, this peaceful, sleeping boy, was a monster more than ready to destroy her in the blink of an eye.

No. She decided. He would never destroy her. Hero's did not murder their damsels, no matter what form they were in. And that was what Remus Lupin was. A hero. More so than the rest of them at least.

James ( thanks to Emily's wonderful black mailing skills), already managed to capture his damsel.

Peter...well, they would have to work on that. Though she wasn't sure how to approach this, as his problem seemed to be opposite that of James.

Sirius. Well, Sirius might have thought that he had her in the palm of his hand. But he didn't. Ha! When she had kissed him there was nothing. And when you kiss your first, true, love there is supposed to be _something_, isn't there? Well, there was only one way to find out.

She would just have to...

"Emily?" Remus stirred and said her name before he had even opened his eyes.

"'Morning." Emily said, feeling very maternal as she sat on the end of the bed.

"Emily!" Remus said finally opening his eyes. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine Remus." Emily answered him smiling. "How're you?"

"I've been better I guess." He answered looking at her slightly bewildered. "What happened last night? I kept dreaming that you were in the tunnel...the one that leads to the shrieking shack." Remus put his had to his head, as if it hurt him to think too hard.

"Remus," Emily said placently. "You don't have to think about it now."

"You-you weren't were you? In the tunnel I mean?" Remus's eyes widened frantically.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to be in there if it weren't for Sirius and Snape." Emily said

"He didn't!"

"He did."

Remus looked as though he would very much like to kick something (or someone for that matter).

"Perfect." He muttered. "So Snape knows now?" Remus began to prop himself up on his pillows. Emily touched his shoulder and forced him back down.

"Don't worry. Dumbledore's already told him not to say anything."

Getting worked up like that couldn't be good for his condition. The nurse had said that he wasn't completely better yet.

"But he _did_ see..." Remus trailed off.

"Only a glimpse of you when you'd just transformed." Emily said hoping this would reassure him, at least somewhat.

He sighed, apparently resigned and sunk back onto his pillows.

"And, I guess you know too?" He asked quietly not looking at her. Oh, he was so cute when he did that little forlorn puppy dog look.

"Yeah I know." Emily said lightly. Hoping to convince him that it didn't matter to her at all...his being a werewolf.

"So..." he said hesitantly after several moments of silence. "What happened, well, afterward? I mean when you got back up to the castle?" He asked as he picked up a corner of the bed sheet and began to fidget with it. She noticed his fingers shaking.

"Well..." She began awkwardly. "I don't remember exactly what happened going up to the castle because...don't ask." Emily said, finally deciding that the story plot was too complicated to go into. Though she was happy to see that this made the corners of Remus's mouth shift upward, indicating a smile.

"Anyway, afterward, Dumbledore called us, well, Sirius, Peter, James, Snape, and me into his office." She bumbled, not exactly certain how to make her dramatic announcement. Somehow she had lost all the poise that she thought she had possessed.

She continued her story uninterrupted until she reached the part about her Father and Uncle.

"They're here then?" Remus asked hesitantly.

"Well, my Uncle left. But my Dad's here as far as I know." She said lightly.

"So, does that mean your going back to school or straight home?" He attempted to sound non-chalant as he said this, even though by looking at his eyes, she could tell the poor thing was heart broken.

In fact, Emily thought, as she surveyed him for a moment. He looked almost the way she pictured the damsels in story books looking before their hero goes off on a quest far away.

But that wasn't right at all. Remus was the hero in her novelesque situation. That had already been decided.

_Hero's _were meant to end stories with dramatic revelations and _damsels _were meant to receive the news with happy hearts from hospital beds.

It was almost as if the scene positions had been reversed. It was almost as if _she _was the hero.

But, if that was true, it meant that she didn't necessarily have to wait for him. Hero's didn't have to wait...

"Close your eyes." Emily said.

"What?" Remus stammered. This apparently was not the response he expected to receive.

"Remus please! I just need to see something." Emily pleaded.

Still looking quite perplexed, Remus did as he was told and shut his eyes.

Emily took in a breath. There was no other way. She had to know...

So with out hesitating, she leaned over the bed sheet, and shutting her own eyes, she kissed him.

Instantly, she felt something warm and quite foreign erupt in her stomach as he began to kiss her back. In fact, if she were to describe such a feeling, she would have to say that it felt like fire works exploding through her entire body. Fireworks. Definitely. But there was something else there too...

"Chocolate?" She asked dumbly as they both pulled quite hesitantly away. Of course, she had been practicing something much smoother to say than this. However, she didn't seem to be able to think properly while there was a strange ringing (that sounded very much like trumpets), in her ears.

Remus nodded at her question. He seemed to have momentarily lost the ability to speak, as he stared at her with wide eyes. After a second, he seemed to come to himself slightly and gave her a more satisfactory answer.

"The drink madame pompfrey gave me to sleep, tasted a bit like chocolate." He said not taking his eyes off of her face.

"To tell you the truth I'm starting to become rather fond of it." The corners of his mouth turned up again.

"I told you." Emily said simply, smiling at him, but inwardly began to curse herself. This all made the timing completely wrong. She had to find someway to make her revelation with out it seeming abrupt.

"So, I guess that's it then." Remus said quietly, finally moving his eyes away from her.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"Well, I mean, you _are_ leaving. Aren't you?"

Perfect, Emily thought as she shook her head now beaming at him.

"I'm staying." She said fighting to contain a giggle at his relieved yet equally perplexed expression.

"But-but Emily, how is that-"

"Possible?" She finished for him.

"Simple really. It all starts with this letter..." Emily pulled the letter from the pocket of her skirt where she had placed it after Dumbledore had let her read it.

"Which my Uncle conveniently forgot to show me, when it arrived six years ago."

She handed Remus the open letter. Still looking quite skeptical he took it from her and began to read. It seemed to take several minuets for the full extent of it's meaning began to sink in.

"So this means that...you're staying?" Remus asked. A truly excited and anxious expression began to slowly light his face.

"I'm coming here next year." Emily answered beaming at him.

"Of course," She continued "I'm sure that I won't be in the same classes as you are. And even with extra work and tutoring, I probably won't reach the level that I should. But other than that..."

She never got a chance to finish the sentence. Remus suddenly leaned forward on his pillows and began kissing her again.

Emily registered vaguely that this was quite a bit different than the first kiss. This brought, not the fierce explosion in her stomach, but a comforting tingle in her spine. And throughout this kiss, one thought seemed to prevail in her mind. A thought that simply had to be said out loud for it to ring true.

It was the ending after all. And the endings of stories like these always came with such proclamations. Yes, she decided, it simply had to be said. And, since she was the hero, she would be the one to say it.

Slowly she pulled away from him, and took a long breath.

"I love you Remus." She said quietly.

Remus looked at her in awe, as though certain he was dreaming. Slowly, he brought his hand up to cup her cheek, as if to make absolutely sure that she was really there.

"I love you too, Emily" he whispered looking into her eyes with such obvious sincerity that Emily was certain she could _feel_ her heart melting.

They stared simply smiling at eachother for a few moments, before he slowly began to lean forward to kiss her again. She closed her eyes in preparation before...

"I thought so." A very familiar voice came from somewhere to the right of them.

Both Emily and Remus pulled apart and turned around quickly to see Sirius walking towards the bed with Peter following in his wake looking quite embarrassed.

"Well this is just perfect." Sirius said

"I've got detention for the rest of the school year and to top it off my friends are pairing themselves off like rabbits in the spring time." Sirius grabbed a chair from a near by desk and sat casually backwards in it.

"Where's James?" Remus asked, still looking quite flustered.

"Apparently Prongs would rather walk Lilly Evans to breakfast than see one of his best friends in their hour of need." Sirius said with an uncharacteristically sour look on his face. "Honestly! Am I the only sane one left?"

"Hey!" Peter interjected.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about you." Sirius said lightly to Peter, whom Emily heard mutter something about 'one of these days...'

"You know." Remus said quite sharply to Sirius. "It wouldn't kill you to take a leaf out of James's book." He finished grabbing Emily's hand in his own and wearing a defiant look.

"Wanna bet?" Sirius asked scoffing.

If this had been the beginning of the story, Emily would have begun a lecture on chivalry or at the very least thrown one of her shoes at him. But, since it was the ending, she just gave him a superior smirk.

"What're you smirking at Gardner?"

"You'll learn."

And he would learn, in time. Because, after all, timing was everything.

**_The end_**

_Well there it is! At the moment, I'm leaning very much towards making a sequel (of course, it still depends on the response for this chapter.. so I'll tell you for the last time, Review!.). But most likely the first chapter of the sequel will be comming sometime this month, so look for that if you're interested._


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